MONDAY FROM THE INTERIOR: MAILBOX & WHAT ARE YOU READING? — DEC. 26

LET'S CURL UP AND READ!

GOOD MORNING!  Welcome to another edition of Monday from the Interior.

 

GRAB SOME COFFEE & CEREAL, & LET'S CHAT

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas, and that your reading week was relaxing.

Today, let’s join Let Them Read Books for Monday Mailbox; and hop on over to Book Journey for What Are You Reading?

 

MAILBOX MONDAY:

For a couple of weeks, I haven’t received anything in my mailbox.  But this past week, I received two review books from Amazon Vine, and an e-book that I’ll be reviewing for a blog tour in February.

Here’s my loot!

1.  So Pretty It Hurts, by Kate White (Amazon Vine)

True-crime journalist and sassy amateur sleuth Bailey Weggins has scarcely begun her hard-earned weekend getaway when something comes up: a dead body, belonging to one of the world’s most glamorous supermodels. Now Bailey’s trapped at an upstate New York home amidst the glitterati—and any one of them could be a murderer. She’s determined to find out who’s responsible, but her investigation could provoke the killer into striking again… From Kate White, the New York Times bestselling author of Hush and the editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan magazine, So Pretty It Hurts is an addictive addition to the Bailey Weggins mystery series, and the book that fans of If Looks Could Kill, Over Her Dead Body, and Lethally Blond have been waiting for.

2.  I’ve Got Your Number, by Sophie Kinsella

I’ve lost it. The only thing in the world I wasn’t supposed to lose. My engagement ring. It’s been in Magnus’s family for three generations. And now the very same day his parents are coming, I’ve lost it. The very same day! Do not hyperventilate, Poppy. Stay positive !!

Poppy Wyatt has never felt luckier. She is about to marry her ideal man, Magnus Tavish, but in one afternoon her “happily ever after” begins to fall apart. Not only has she lost her engagement ring in a hotel fire drill but in the panic that follows, her phone is stolen. As she paces shakily around the lobby, she spots an abandoned phone in a trash can. Finders keepers! Now she can leave a number for the hotel to contact her when they find her ring. Perfect!

Well, perfect except that the phone’s owner, businessman Sam Roxton, doesn’t agree. He wants his phone back and doesn’t appreciate Poppy reading his messages and wading into his personal life.

What ensues is a hilarious and unpredictable turn of events as Poppy and Sam increasingly upend each other’s lives through emails and text messages. As Poppy juggles wedding preparations, mysterious phone calls, and hiding her left hand from Magnus and his parents . . . she soon realizes that she is in for the biggest surprise of her life.

3.  Hot Chocolate (e-book), by Dawn Greenfield Ireland (On blog tour at my Chocolate & Mimosas site on 2/2/12)

Meet the middle-aged Alcott sisters: Madge, Lila Mae and Dorothea, heiresses to the Alcott Chocolate fortune and mavens of Houston’s elite River Oaks.

Madge ambushes Lila Mae with Dorothea’s manipulative plea: she can’t care for Bernie, their 92-year old father, any longer. Lila Mae explodes in a hissy fit—she had warned Dorothea years ago that they should put Bernie in an assisted living center.

Robert, Lila Mae’s astrologer, warns of impending problems and he’s rarely wrong.

The sisters call a meeting with Walter Branson, their solicitor. They discuss Bernie’s nurse Bambi Chaline, a blonde bombshell who looks more like a hooker than a nurse.

Arrangements are made for Bernie to be transferred over to Lake Sides Assisted Living Center in the Uptown Galleria area and a severance package is drawn up for Bambi….(check back in 2/2012 for my review and a guest post from the author).

***

WHAT ARE YOU READING?

With the holidays surrounding us and demanding our time and attention, I’m surprised I got anything done this week.

But here’s some of what happened on my blogs:

SAVORING SOME GUILTY PLEASURES

MONDAY POTPOURRI:  ENJOYING EACH DAY

HUMP DAY POTPOURRI:  FAMILY STORIES

SHARING STORIES

END ROUND FOUR: ROW 80

WEEKEND POTPOURRI: MERRY CHRISTMAS

Review:   She Can Run, by Melinda Leigh

Review:   The Marriage Plot, by Jeffrey Eugenides

Review:  An Uncertain Refuge (e-book), by Carolyn J. Rose

What’s Up Next?

I’m trying to whittle down a few more from my TBR stacks, so I’ll be reading these books, hopefully:

1.  Bleedout, by Joan Brady

Even after Hugh Freyl lost his sight he was invincible. But late one night, in the library of the elite law firm that bears his name, he was beaten to death. The obvious suspect is David Marion, a convicted killer from the inner city. Hugh, the scion of the richest and most influential family in Springfield, Illinois, had orchestrated David’s release from prison and outraged his family and friends by making the young man his protégé. Now, in the eyes of Hugh’s circle, David’s criminal past fits him perfectly for the murderer’s role. It makes no sense for David to have killed his teacher, liberator and friend. Yet, if he did not, who did?

With no one to stand up for him, and armed only with the criminal skills he honed in prison and the savage fury of a cornered man, David must fight alone. But is he battling to prove his innocence or to hide his guilt?

In Springfield nothing is what it seems, and the more David struggles to clear himself, the closer he gets to the snake pit of ambition and greed poisoning the social and political fabric of the city. Was Hugh all he appeared to be? Who was he protecting and why? Could this most upright of men have involved his firm in shady financial dealings? To find the answers, David must confront his violent past and the uncertainty of his future.

2.  Nutcase, by Charlotte Hughes

Psychologist Kate Holly is about to get evicted from her office, and her best option may be to share space with her jacuzzi-loving ex-boyfriend, Dr. Thad Glazer. That’s not going to help her patch things up with her firefighter ex-husband. With her oddball patients, meddling mother, and eccentric secretary thrown into the mix—not to mention a spree of suspicious fires—will Kate put her life back together or wind up in a padded cell?

3.  Balancing Acts, by Zoe Fishman

A poignant debut novel about the transformative powers of yoga and friendship for four women on the verge of realizing their dreams

With beauty, brains, and a high-paying Wall Street position, Charlie was a woman who seemed to have it all—until she turned thirty and took stock of her life, or lack thereof. She left it all behind to pursue yoga, and now, two years later, she’s looking to drum up business for her fledgling studio in Brooklyn. Attending her college’s alumni night with fliers in tow, she reconnects with three former classmates whose post-graduation lives, like hers, haven’t turned out like they’d hoped.

Romance book editor Sabine still longs to write the novel that’s bottled up inside her. Once an up-and-coming photographer and Upper East Side social darling, Naomi is now a single mom who hasn’t picked up her camera in years. And Bess, who dreamed of being a serious investigative journalist a la Christiane Amanpour, is stuck in a rut, writing snarky captions for a gossip mag. But at a weekly yoga class at Charlie’s studio, the four friends, reunited ten years after college, will forge new bonds and take new chances—as they start over, fall in love, change their lives…and come face-to-face with haunting realities.

***

I have several books on nearby stacks that I can grab if I finish these and have time on my hands. 

What are you reading?  What did you receive in your mailbox?  I hope you’ll stop by and share.

MEANDERING INTERIOR JOURNEYS — A REVIEW

In the early 1980s, life for young college graduates in The Marriage Plot: A Novel seemed to spread out before them with infinite possibilities. We first meet them while still at Brown University as they are enjoying philosophical issues and endless mating.

Our main focus throughout the story centers around three of these graduates: Leonard Bankhead, a “charismatic loner, college Darwinist, and lost Portland boy”; Madeleine Hanna, an English major, writing on Jane Austen and George Eliot, “purveyors of the marriage plot that lies at the heart of the greatest English novels”; and Mitchell Grammaticus, intrigued with Christian mysticism and obsessed with Madeleine.

But college is not the real world, and these three discover that uncertainty more than anything else will define their lives over the next year.

Leonard and Madeleine have an on-again, off-again romance complicated by secret issues that gradually are revealed, while Mitchell’s journey in Europe and the Far East distracts him just a bit from his angst over Madeleine.

Each very long section of the book tells the story from different perspectives, winding to and fro in much the way that young people full of restless energy meander when money is not an object and when their own narcissistic pursuits govern their lives.

I really wanted to love this book, and on an intellectual level, I liked the concepts. But I didn’t like the characters. Yes, I felt sympathy for their plights, especially for the melodrama of the Leonard-Madeleine duo when his emotional state and catastrophic mood swings seemed to control everything about their lives. Mitchell’s unwavering obsession with Madeleine seemed a bit pathological, but perhaps understandable, considering his background.

I didn’t get the feeling that the author cared much for these characters, either, and this was exemplified by the author’s somewhat detached writing style. Too bad, since I would have enjoyed “feeling” their pain and really delving into their interior lives with something resembling emotion. Three stars.

MONDAY FROM THE INTERIOR: MAILBOX & WHAT ARE YOU READING? — DEC. 19

Welcome to another edition of Monday from the Interior, spotlighting Mailbox Monday, hosted this month by Lady Q.’s Let Them Read Books; and What Are You Reading, led by Sheila, at Book Journey.

MONDAY MAILBOX:  No books received this week!

WHAT ARE YOU READING?

 

 

I had a really good week! 

Here are some of my blog posts from this week.

TUESDAY POTPOURRI:  BREAKFAST IN BED

12-14 CHECK-IN: ROW 80

HUMP DAY POTPOURRI – A DIZZY DAY

WEEKEND READING

SATURDAY MUSINGS: HOLIDAY MOMENTS

12-18 CHECK-IN: ROW 80

Review:  Mrs. Nixon (e-book), by Ann Beattie

Review:  Best Kept Secret, by Amy Hatvany

Review:  The Train of Small Mercies, by David Rowell

Review:   Pug Hill, by Alison Pace

Review:  Star Struck (Celebrity Interviews) e-book, by Betty Dravis

 

What’s Up Next?

This week, I’m cutting back on my list.

1.  She Can Run, by Melinda Leigh (Amazon Vine read)

2.  The Marriage Plot, by Jeffrey Eugenides

 

3.  An Uncertain Refuge (e-book), by Carolyn J. Rose

 

***

Now I plan to have a relaxing week.  With all the festivities ahead, I won’t have as much time to read.

What are the rest of you planning?  I hope you’ll come on by and share.

 

IMAGINING THE INTERIOR LIFE OF A PUBLIC WIFE: A REVIEW

By tackling the subject of the iconic and elusive Mrs. Nixon, Ann Beattie has chosen an almost insurmountable task. The unknown and unknowable wife of Richard Nixon was a woman defined by the times and by her family history. She had learned early on to present a façade to the world and especially upon taking on the role of public figure. Her brief experience in acting, as a young person, may have best prepared her for this choice.

Beattie’s work is a pursuit toward understanding the woman behind the public image. I don’t know that she accomplished that in this book, but she did raise a number of questions, and she certainly explored the task of a writer, and how fictionalized versions of known people are uniquely challenging.

Toward the end, she welcomes us onto her porch in Maine, and then gives us a few snippets to ponder:

“Public figures are easy, because they’re on display. You have to catch them in a private moment to really know something. To know Mrs. Nixon in her early days on the farm, and then as a college student in California, as someone on the campaign trail, in the White House, behind the walls of La Casa Pacifica, in New York City, and in Saddle River, N.J., would of course reveal different Mrs. Nixons. We’re all changed by time and context.”

“Mrs. Nixon didn’t make it easy for a writer to write about her—nor was that any obligation….Occasionally a photograph betrayed her true emotions, but she did not confirm or deny what anyone perceived. She didn’t let us have a lot of information through words…It seems obvious to me now that she puzzled herself…To overcome misfortune, Mrs. Nixon became a person who would try things, and would persevere–quite possibly, it was a mode on which she overrelied….

Parts of the book were tedious to me, and somewhat confusing, in that they were presented as if they were fact, and then they turned out to be imaginings. A clever device, but it did halt my progress and occasionally frustrate me. I’m giving this book three stars. However, for the truly fascinated student of this iconic woman, I would recommend muddling through.

MONDAY FROM THE INTERIOR: MAILBOX MONDAY & WHAT ARE YOU READING? — DEC. 12

 

Welcome to another Monday from the Interior, in which we celebrate the past week in reading and take a look at the upcoming week.

Mailbox Monday is hosted this month by Let Them Read Books.

What Are You Reading? is hosted by Book Journey.

My week has been pretty good, but I didn’t receive ANY books in the mail!

A breather…perhaps a chance to catch up on those books still waiting to be read and reviewed.

I have also spent some time joining challenges for 2012 and creating pages for the New Year on my Curl up and Read blog.

 

WHAT ARE YOU READING?

 

 

What did my past week look like?  Here are some blog posts and book reviews:

A MID-WEEK RENDEZVOUS – EXCERPT

12-7 CHECK-IN: ROW 80

THURSDAY POTPOURRI – CLUTTER

SATURDAY POTPOURRI – FAVORITE BEVERAGES, ETC.

12-11-CHECK-IN: ROW 80-CLIMBING THAT MOUNTAIN

Review:  Brownie Fix, by Ellen Cardona

Review:  The Next Always, by Nora Roberts

Review:  Dirty Secret, by Jessie Sholl

 

What’s Up Next?

Still Reading:  Mrs. Nixon (e-book), by Ann Beattie

***

1.  Pug Hill, by Alison Pace

2.  Best Kept Secret, Amy Hatvany

3. The Train of Small Mercies,  by David Rowell

4.  Star Struck (e-book), by Betty Dravis

***

And that’s my week.  I plan to do a lot more writing, since I’m almost at the finish line on two manuscripts. 

What are you planning for the week?  I hope you’ll come on by and share.

WAITING ON WEDNESDAY — LOVE IN A NUTSHELL — DEC. 7

Welcome to Waiting on Wednesday, our opportunity to spotlight upcoming releases we’re eagerly anticipating.

Hosted by Jill, at Breaking the Spine, you can join in, too.  Just follow the link, share your featured book, and visit lots of other blogs, too.

I’m a fan of this author, and this book looks like the beginning of a new series, with a great new protagonist.  Or maybe it’s a stand-alone treat from Janet Evanovich, who co-authors with Dorien Kelly in Love in a Nutshell.  Coming 1-3-2012.

About the Book:

Number one bestselling author Janet Evanovich teams up with award-winning author Dorien Kelly to deliver a sparkling novel of romantic suspense, small-town antics, secretive sabotage, and lots and lots of beer

Kate Appleton needs a job. Her husband has left her, she’s been fired from her position as a magazine editor, and the only place she wants to go is to her parents’ summer house, The Nutshell, in Keene’s Harbor, Michigan. Kate’s plan is to turn The Nutshell into a Bed and Breakfast. Problem is, she needs cash, and the only job she can land is less than savory.

Matt Culhane wants Kate to spy on his brewery employees. Someone has been sabotaging his company, and Kate is just new enough in town that she can insert herself into Culhane’s business and snoop around for him. If Kate finds the culprit, Matt will pay her a $20,000 bonus. Needless to say, Kate is highly motivated. But several problems present themselves. Kate despises beer. No one seems to trust her. And she is falling hard for her boss.

Can these two smoke out a saboteur, save Kate’s family home, and keep a killer from closing in…all while resisting their undeniable attraction to one another? Filled with humor, heart, and loveable characters, Love in a Nutshell is delicious fun.

***

Excited yet?  I certainly am, and now I’m eager to visit your offering.  Hope you’ll come by here, too.

MONDAY FROM THE INTERIOR — MAILBOX MONDAY & WHAT ARE YOU READING? — DEC. 5

LET'S CURL UP AND READ!

Welcome to another edition of Monday from the Interior, spotlighting Mailbox Monday, hosted this month by Lady Q.’s Let Them Read Books; and What Are You Reading, led by Sheila, at Book Journey.

MAILBOX MONDAY:

The mailbox this week brought one review book and one contest win; I bought one; and I received one as a gift from the authors.

Here’s My Loot:

1.  She Can Run, by Melinda Leigh (Amazon Vine)

Elizabeth was a young widow with two small children when she met Congressman Richard Baker. Handsome and wealthy, with a sparkling public image, Richard seemed like the perfect man to provide the security that Beth and her kids were craving. But when she uncovers a dangerous secret about her new husband, Beth realizes he will go to any lengths—even murder—to keep it. After barely escaping with her life, she and her children flee. They eventually make their way to a secluded estate in the Pennsylvania countryside, where Beth dares to hope she has found a safe place at last…

Forced into retirement by an unexpected injury, Philadelphia homicide detective Jack O’Malley is mourning the loss of his career when his uncle abruptly dies, leaving Jack to dispose of his crumbling country house. Unbeknownst to him, his uncle engaged a caretaker just before his death, a mysterious woman with two children and a beautiful face that haunts his dreams. Determined to know her, Jack begins an investigation into Beth’s past. When he uncovers the shocking truth, and a local woman is viciously murdered, Jack puts his own life on the line to keep Beth and her children safe.

2.  Best Kept Secret, by Amy Hatvany (Won from Great Thoughts)

Cadence didn’t sit down one night and decide that downing two bottles of wine was a brilliant idea.

Her drinking snuck up on her – as a way to sleep, to help her relax after a long day, to relieve some of the stress of the painful divorce that’s left her struggling to make ends meet with her five-year old son, Charlie.

It wasn’t always like this. Just a few years ago, Cadence seemed to have it all—a successful husband, an adorable son, and a promising career as a freelance journalist.  But with the demise of her marriage, her carefully constructed life begins to spiral out of control.  Suddenly she is all alone trying to juggle the demands of work and motherhood.

Logically, Cadence knows that she is drinking too much, and every day begins with renewed promises to herself that she will stop.  But within a few hours, driven by something she doesn’t understand, she is reaching for the bottle – even when it means not playing with her son because she is too tired, or dropping him off at preschool late, again.  And even when one calamitous night it means leaving him alone to pick up more wine at the grocery store.  It’s only when her ex-husband shows up at her door to take Charlie away that Cadence realizes her best kept secret has been discovered….

Heartbreaking, haunting, and ultimately life-affirming, Best Kept Secret is more than just the story of Cadence—it’s a story of how the secrets we hold closest are the ones that can most tear us apart.

3.  A Room Swept White, by Sophie Hannah

TV producer Fliss Benson receives an anonymous card at work. The card has sixteen numbers on it, arranged in four rows of four – numbers that mean nothing to her. On the same day, Fliss finds out she’s going to be working on a documentary about miscarriages of justice involving cot-death mothers wrongly accused of murder. The documentary will focus on three women: Helen Yardley, Sarah Jaggard and Rachel Hines. All three women are now free, and the doctor who did her best to send them to prison for life, child protection zealot Dr Judith Duffy, is under investigation for misconduct. For reasons she has shared with nobody, this is the last project Fliss wants to be working on. And then Helen Yardley is found dead at her home, and in her pocket is a card with sixteen numbers on it, arranged in four rows of four …

4.  Whistling Woman (e-book), by C. C. Tillery (gift from authors)

In the waning years of the 19th century, Bessie Daniels grows up in the small town of Hot Springs in western North Carolina. Secure in the love of her father, bothered with her mother’s desire that she be a proper Southern belle, Bessie’s determined to forge her own way in life. Or, as her Cherokee great-grandmother, Elisi, puts it, a whistling woman.

Life, however, has a few surprises for her. First, there’s Papa carrying home a dead man, which seems to invite Death for an extended visit in their home. And shortly before she graduates from Dorland Institute, there’s another death, this one closer to her heart. But Death isn’t through with her yet. Proving another of Elisi’s sayings, death comes in threes, It strikes yet again, taking someone Bessie has recently learned to appreciate and cherish, leaving her to struggle with a family that’s threatening to come apart at the seams.

Even her beloved Papa seems to be turning into another person, someone Bessie disagrees with more often than not, and someone she isn’t even sure she can continue to love, much less idolize as she had during her childhood.

And when Papa makes a decision that costs the life of a new friend, the course of Bessie’s heart is changed forever.

***

WHAT ARE YOU READING?

Here’s a glimpse of my reading and blogging this week:

WINTERIZING THE BLOGS

NOVEMBER READING WRAP-UP

GUEST POST – ALON SHALEV

DECKING THE HALLS

WEEKEND THOUGHTS FROM THE INTERIOR

Review:    The Accidental Activist, by Alon Shalev (Read Nov. 10, but reviewed 11/28 for blog tour)

Review:     Second Nature (e-book), by Jacquelyn Mitchard

Review:     Shockaholic, by Carrie Fisher

Review:    The Kingdom of Childhood, by Rebecca Coleman

Review:     V is for Vengeance, by Sue Grafton

What’s Up Next?

1.  Brownie Fix, by Ellen Cardona

2.   The Next Always, by Nora Roberts

3.  Dirty Secret, by Jessie Sholl

4.  Mrs. Nixon (e-book), by Ann Beattie

***

So here are my past and upcoming weeks…hope you all come by and share your own reading moments.

WEEKEND THOUGHTS FROM THE INTERIOR — DEC. 3

Thoughts From the Interior

This past week seemingly flew by, as so many have lately.

What did I accomplish?  I guess I did some reading; I even reviewed the notes from the Beta reader for Defining Moments; and I did a little Christmas decorating.

Last weekend’s get-together with family left me nostalgic, though; as I unpacked the decorations, my thoughts took me to the moments when I had collected each item.

Many of them I acquired during recent years, but there was that one Santa sleigh that I have had since the 1980s, when my kids were young, and we were living in that cute little apartment surrounded by wicker.

Santa Sleigh on the Left -- A Reminder of Times Past

 

Here’s a shot of the kids, amongst the wicker:

 

That shot, of course, was not taken during the Christmas season.

Do you ever think about the clothes, decor, and other remnants of a particular time in your life?  Sometimes I even wonder what possessed us to dress or decorate that way.  But those were the times.

Then, I guess, we thought it was cool.

I drove a little VW Bug back then, and recall stashing many a “find” in the car and driving home.  Sometimes with the ends sticking out the side windows.

We probably couldn’t get away with something like that now!

I am trying to stay in the moment, though, and enjoy the life that surrounds me now.  Like grandchildren.  Here’s a shot taken just last weekend.

 

Does the holiday season stir up memories for you?  What do you like to remember, laugh about, or even sigh about?