As If I'm Not Bad Eough Just Mouthing Off Here...

I've been given another space on the Internet in which to spread my own kind of Christmas cheer. ::snort:: The lovely Rebecca of I'm Lost in Books asked me to write a post for her Holiday Extravaganza Event. You can see my snarky guest post, check out the other guest posts, and enter to win a whole lot of wonderful books she's giving away. Today's is called Soulless by Amber Garr. I'm hoping there's not a sly nod in my direction when she chose that title for today! Anyway, go check it out.

Review: Neverhome by Laird Hunt

Women have been in combat probably as long as there have been wars. But they used to have to disguise themselves as men in order to fight. In the Civil War alone, there are 400 some documented cases of women dressing as men and going off to fight, and sometimes die, for their cause. The reasons these women did this were as varied as the women themselves. In Laird Hunt's captivating and elegantly written novel, Neverhome, one such woman left her home and her husband to fight for the Union.

Constance is the stronger spouse so she is the one who dons the uniform and marches off to war leaving Bartholomew at home to tend the farm. And so Constance becomes Ash, wife becomes soldier, woman becomes man. Narrating her own story, Constance/Ash tells of her skill with a rifle, the hard life and rough conditions that the soldiers endure even when not fighting, the horror and brutality of war, the relationships that spring up between the men, including the petty fighting, the jealousy, and the stealing, as well as the fellowship, and of her own emotional remoteness from her fellow soldiers and from the terrible events she witnesses. Ash reflects not only on her current situation but also looks back at the way her mother's life and death left an indelible mark on her own life and consciousness.

The writing here is vivid and absolutely incandescent. With the novel entirely narrated in Ash's steady and sometimes seemingly emotionless voice, readers are immediately drawn into her head, wanting to understand her motivations and feelings of duty and desire, and allowing them to experience the gritty reality of the Civil War through her. She details battles from a dreamy remove, gets sent to the hell of wartime prison, and wanders through the carnage of both battlefield and makeshift field hospital. Hunt deftly renders history on these pages without falling into the anachronistic in order to draw a strong, complex woman. Ash is compelling right from the start but the seeming inconsistencies in her character in the end make her just that much more fascinating and change the reader's perception of the events of the book. The novel as a whole is quite short but it still manages to be epic in feel as it turns the convention of the quest tale on its head. Beautifully written and imagined, this is a spectacular and unusual Civil War novel, one that readers of historical fiction and of literary fiction will be so glad they've read.

Thanks to the publisher for sending me a copy of the book for review.

Waiting on Wednesday

This meme is hosted by Breaking the Spine and is meant to highlight some great pre-publication books we all can't wait to get our grubby little mitts on.

Tell by Frances Itani. The book is being released by Grove Press/Black Cat on January 6, 2015.

Amazon says this about the book: The international debut sensation Deafening launched the story of Grania, deaf from the age of five, and her sister Tress, who helped to create their secret language. Tell picks up from the return of the sisters’ husbands from the war, and follows Tress’s partner Kenan, a young shell-shocked soldier who confines himself indoors, venturing outside only at night to visit the frozen bay where he skated as a boy. Saddened by her altered marriage, Tress seeks advice from her Aunt Maggie. But Maggie and her husband, Am, have problems of their own. Maggie finds joy singing in the town's newly created choral society. Am, troubled by the widening gulf in his marriage, spends more and more time in the clock tower above their apartment. As the second decade of the twentieth century draws to a close, the lives of the two couples become increasingly entwined. Startling revelations surface as layers of silence begin to crumble.

Told with Itani’s signature power and grace, Tell is both a deeply moving story about the burdens of the past, and a beautifully rendered reminder of how the secrets we bury to protect ourselves can also be the cause of our undoing.

Review: The Language of Hoofbeats by Catherine Ryan Hyde

Family. Most of us are lucky enough to have a pretty good, rather innocuous family life. But there are lots of kids out there who aren't so lucky. They can't live with their parent or parents for a variety of reasons. The luckiest among them are placed in loving foster situations but even the luckiest are indelibly marked by the experiences in their earlier lives that pulled them away from their mothers and landed them in the uncertain limbo of being a foster child. The best foster families are the ones who truly become families, embracing the children living with them for as long as they need a stable and safe home. But even these created families aren't always the right fit for a child, no matter how much love and tolerance they find. Catherine Ryan Hyde writes of one unconventional family with two moms, an adopted son who was once their foster child, and two foster children, one of whom is new to their family and a handful to boot in her new novel The Language of Hoofbeats.

Jackie and Paula, along with their three children and their crazy menagerie of animals are moving to rural California so that Paula can take up a new veterinary practice. Jackie is leery of the place, worried about judgments (she and Paula are married), struggling with their newest foster child, Star, who is angry and standoffish, and unimpressed by the nasty, cantankerous, unhappy neighbor, Clementine, across the street. Star is prickly but when she sees the high strung, neglected horse across the street, she feels called to him. She knows that he needs to be cared for more than Clem is willing or capable of doing. Clem is terrified of Comet but since he was her late daughter's horse, she is not willing to let go of him. She too knows that the horse needs more than she can give but she forbids Star to come around, warning her off the property. The only recourse Star can see is to take the horse and disappear with him, give him the chance to run, to be free. With Star and Comet's disappearance and the ongoing search for them before something terrible happens, Clem must draw closer to the family across the road despite her misgivings and prejudices.

The novel is narrated in turns by Jackie and by Clem, neither of whom is a fan of the other. Jackie's narration allows the reader to see inside their family's life, to know sweet Quinn, who is terrified of losing his J-Mom and P-Mom like he lost his late biological parents, and to know Mando who is hurting and reluctantly thawing out for Paula and Jackie when he realizes that want him to be reconciled with his mother, who has done nothing wrong besides be the victim of racism which unfairly landed in jail. Jackie's narration also allows the reader to see the kind and gentle love that she and Paula offer to the kids who live with them as well as the regular and normal family life they lead together. Clem's narration shows the tragedy of her daughter's suicide and the shock of her husband's leaving her because of her inability to be happy or to like anything. It gives a reason for her attachment to the neglected horse pacing a corral in her front yard and it shows her revelation, by fits and starts, that she is disliked, feared, and avoided by pretty much everyone in town, a revelation that inspires her to want to change if she can.

The novel is chock full of current issues: lesbianism, racism, mental illness, suicide, foster care, the judicial system, and adoption to name a few. With so many, it's hard to delve into each of them to the extent that they deserve. But each issue highlights the need, hard as it sometimes is, for tolerance and acceptance, to look beyond the surface and to help each person in this world feel their full worth as a human being. This is a tale of broken hearts healed by love, how we define family, the importance of community, and finding what we need in this world. It is a nice, feel good read that reminds us we all have unhappiness in our lives but we also have the ability to find a way through those trials with the help of those around us and that help finding our place comes in many different forms.

For more information about Catherine Ryan Hyde and the book, take a look at her web page, Facebook page, follow her at Twitter or read her blog. Follow the rest of the blog tour or look at the amazon reviews for others' thoughts and opinions on the book.

Thanks to Lisa from TLC Book Tours and the publisher for sending me a copy of the book for review.

Review: The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer

There's a reason you should not choose your own nickname. You could be choosing something that others don't see in you, you could have trouble living up to your choice, or you could outgrow the moniker and be stuck with it. In the case of the friends in Meg Wolitzer's newest eponymously titled novel, the problem with dubbing themselves "The Interestings" is, as a later character who is not an original part of the group says, they are not interesting. Unfortunately this holds true from a reader's perspective as well, despite the skill with which Wolitzer crafts her sentences.

Jules Jacobson goes to Spirit-in-the-Woods arts camp the summer after her father dies. She is stunned and pleased and more than a little surprised to discover herself a member of a group of talented fellow fifteen and sixteen year olds who all aspire to lives in the arts. Jules, who secretly fears that she might be boring, wants to be a comedic actress. The incandescent and beautiful Ash also wants to act. Homely Ethan is an animator. Jonah is a gifted musician whose mother is a famous folk singer. Buxom Cathy is a dancer. And Goodman is just Goodman, the shiny, popular kid around whom everyone wants to orbit. The summer is absolutely magical for Jules and she will spend the rest of her life wanting to escape back to it with all of its promise and potential. For the next forty years, Jules, Ethan, Ash, and Jonah will maintain friendships that ebb and flow but they will always come back together because they knew each other when they were still so unformed; they are each others' pasts and presents.

The group is torn asunder not long after their magical summer by the accusation of violence and unquestioning assumptions of guilt and innocence. The remaining four grow up and launch themselves into life, with their hopes and dreams still intact. Over the long years of the novel, the realities of real life intrude for some while others achieve more than they ever expected. Much of the novel's narration focuses on Jules, telling not only of her own grown-up life as a therapist but also of the lives of Ethan and Ash, who become rich and successful as animator/cartoonist and director respectively, and Jonah, who inexplicably gives up his music to become an engineer. The group's individual goals have diverged drastically and their lifestyles are vastly different too.  Jules is incredibly jealous at almost every turn. Her focus on the others, specifically Ethan and Ash, is tainted by the lens of extreme envy and a sad dissatisfaction with her own life which is hard to read. It's almost as if she stopped maturing emotionally the day she stepped foot at Spirit-of-the-Woods. Ethan's lifelong, unrequited desire for Jules, despite the outward blessings of his life, is inexplicable and makes him a little bit pitiful as a character. Wolitzer knows how to write but the dry whininess of her characters and the monotony of the story arc conspire against her. While Wolitzer may be an accomplished writer, her occasional sex scenes are ghastly. They add nothing to the book, driving the plot not at all, and quite frankly are incredibly unappealing to read, taking the reader firmly out of the story with a shiver. There are interesting nuggets about creativity and talent, the mechanism of success, the importance of connections, and the responsibility of wealth buried in the plot but with Jules and Ethan being the major focus of the narration, it is hard to see the novel as anything but a study in disappointment. Certainly they, and the book, are not really all that interesting.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

This meme is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.

Books I completed this past week are:

The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer
The Language of Hoofbeats by Catherine Ryan Hyde
A Rogue in Sheep's Clothing by Elf Ahearn
Landline by Rainbow Rowell
Island of a Thousand Mirrors by Nayomi Munaweera

Bookmarks are still living in the middle of:

Ruby by Cynthia Bond
Animal Madness by Laurel Braitman
Life Drawing by Robin Black
The Moon Sisters by Therese Walsh

Reviews posted this week:

'Til the Well Runs Dry by Lauren Francis-Sharma
The Blessings by Elise Juska
I Take You by Eliza Kennedy

Books still needing to have reviews written (as opposed to the ones that are simply awaiting posting):

Burial Rights by Hannah Kent
Euphoria by Lily King
The Traitor's Wife by Allison Pataki
Painted Horses by Malcolm Brooks
All Fall Down by Jennifer Weiner
Juliet's Nurse by Lois Leveen
We Are Called to Rise by Laura McBride
The Orphans of Race Point by Patry Francis
Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger
Mr. Tall by Tony Earley
Gemini by Carol Cassella
The Bride Insists by Jane Ashford
A Farm Dies Once a Year by Arlo Crawford
A Fork in the Road edited by James Oseland
Marching to Zion by Mary Glickman
Reluctantly Royal by Nichole Chase
The Geometry of Love by Jessica Levine
The Wednesday Daughters by Meg Waite Clayton
Highland Scandal by Julia London
Since You've Been Gone by Anouska Knight
Starting Over by Sue Moorcroft
Falling For Max by Shannon Stacey
Christmas Brides by Suzanne Enoch, Alexandra Hawkins, Elizabeth Essex, and Valerie Bowman
The Banks of Certain Rivers by Jon Harrison
To Marry a Scottish Laird by Lynsay Sands
The Way North edited by Ron Riekki
Z by Therese Anne Fowler
While the Gods Were Sleeping by Elizabeth Enslin
Inn at Last Chance by Hope Ramsey
The Wedding Guests by Meredith Goldstein
Talk Dirty to Me by Dakota Cassidy
Jesus, My Father, the CIA, and Me by Ian Morgan Cron
Gentlemen Prefer Curves by Sugar Jamison
Queen of Hearts by Colleen Oakes
Small Blessings by Martha Woodroof
The Rake's Handbook by Sally Orr
The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer
The Language of Hoofbeats by Catherine Ryan Hyde
A Rogue in Sheep's Clothing by Elf Ahearn
Landline by Rainbow Rowell
Island of a Thousand Mirrors by Nayomi Munaweera

Review: I Take You by Eliza Kennedy

Modern marriage presupposes monogamy. But there are always voices out there arguing that monogamy is not natural, that we are genetically programmed to practice polyamory instead. Whether we should stay faithful to one person or be free to find multiple partners will probably remain up for debate for a long time. There's no debating though, that when discussing infidelity, there is a vast difference in how we think of women who cheat versus men who cheat. Eliza Kennedy's novel, I Take You, looks, on the surface, like fluffy chick lit, but it is also a deeper examination of our societal expectations and requirement for monogamy for women in a relationship.

Lily is getting married. Her fiancé Will is perfect, handsome, and loving. Lily is flighty, cheeky, and a serial philanderer. She's not sure if she loves Will or not. If she loved him, wouldn't she be willing and able to give up all the other guys she just can't keep her hands off of? Maybe she's not ready to get married after all. As her wedding looms ever closer, she has these small panic attacks about what the right thing to do is. Add to that the fact that her job as an attorney in a big New York law firm is crazy right now and her boss, with whom she is sleeping (naturally), has asked her to postpone her wedding so she can be the lead on a vitally important deposition that could cost the firm's client big time. Even Lily's collection of irreverent, kooky, eccentric family (her mother, several stepmothers, and her grandmother) think she should call off the wedding. But Lily is stubborn. She might be waffling herself, and trying to seduce members of the wedding party while she's at it, but if so many people think she shouldn't marry Will, it makes her all the more determined to go ahead with it.

As Lily careens from one sexcapade to another, she is also sweating it out over her job and the jeopardy it is in when she meets with the worst witness possible given the client her firm is defending. In order to get what she needs from the deposition, she will have to learn to be true to herself and to trust her own crazy instincts, the same lesson she needs to learn in her relationship life. Lily is generally a silly character, one who wants to examine the idea of love and the importance of fidelity but who doesn't quite come across as smart enough to do so. It's hard to be sympathetic to her when she's faced with losing Will because of her repeated infidelities but this difficulty on the reader's side highlights the sexual double standard to which we hold women. Lily may be over the top but in many ways, she's behaving in ways that we would excuse in a man. Lily's father's inability to stay monogamous comes across as comedic where her own similar behavior leads to censure and to great unhappiness on her part, something patently unfair. The setting of Key West helps further the rather wacky, outlandish feel to the novel. And the end, with its unexpectedness, feels completely appropriate to this novel. The issues of monogamy, how to really recognize love, truth, and trust make this an interesting read. Be warned though that Lily is a partier and a hook-up queen, and she is likely to offend some sensibilities for sure.

Thanks to the publisher and LibraryThing Early Reviewers for sending me a copy of the book to read.