MONDAY MEMES: MAILBOX & WHAT ARE YOU READING? — APRIL 4

MONDAY MEMES

Good morning, and welcome to our first Monday in April.  Today, and for the rest of April, Mailbox Monday is hosted by Passages to the Past.

What Are You Reading? is hosted by Book Journey.

 

MAILBOX MONDAY:

 

This week, I received one review book and bought one e-book.

 

1.  Life After Forty, by Dora Heldt (Amazon Vine)

When Christine’s husband of ten years dumps her over the phone while she watches a Hugh Grant film she is sent spinning on a cathartic, self-medicated journey to the land of self-acceptance and self-reliance. Surrounded by her sister and a strong support group of friends, Christine learns how to deal with the horrors of dating, finding new appliances, and the exhilarating feeling of shopping without consequence.

An uproarious look at the suddenly single life of a divorcee, Dora Heldt’s first book to appear in English captures the zeitgeist of the new millennium with searing insight while never deigning to take itself too seriously. Sparkling dialogue and unforgettable characters create a vibrant world of sardonic, take-no-prisoners women who hold their own in a world geared toward acceptance of their younger selves. Not since Bridget Jones’ Diary or Sex in the City has anything like Life After Forty so accurately and thoroughly expressed the modern female point of view with such startling clarity….

2.  Twenty-Five Years Ago Today, by Stacy Juba

Spring Sale – limited time! Kris Langley has always been obsessed with murder. She blames herself for the violent death of her cousin when they were kids and has let guilt invade every corner of her existence. Now an editorial assistant and obit writer for a Massachusetts newspaper, Kris stumbles across an unsolved murder while compiling “25 Years Ago Today” items from the microfilm. She grows fascinated with the case of a young cocktail waitress who was bludgeoned to death and dumped in the woods. Determined to solve the case and atone for the death of her cousin, Kris immerses herself in the mystery of what happened to Diana Ferguson, a talented artist who expressed herself through haunting paintings of Greek mythology. Not only does Kris face resistance from her family and her managing editor, she also clashes with Diana’s suspicious nephew, Eric Soares – until neither she nor Eric can deny the chemistry flaring between them. Kris soon learns that old news never leaves the morgue and that yesterday’s headline is tomorrow’s danger, for finding out the truth about that night twenty-five years ago may shatter Kris’s present, costing her love, her career, and ultimately, her life….

 

****

 

WHAT ARE YOU READING?

 

 

This past week has been full.  Lots of reading, lots of blog posts.

Some Blog Posts — In Case You Missed Them:

MARCH READING WRAP-UP

INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR CAROL CRIGGER

ROW 80-ROUND TWO GOALS

LIVING FOR THE PEACEFUL MOMENTS-EXCERPT

IT MUST BE LOVE-EXCERPT

SATURDAY SNAPSHOT

 

Books Read & Reviewed-Click Titles for Reviews:

1.  In Cold Blood, by Truman Capote

2.  Tuck Your Skirt in Your Panties and Run, by Lucy Adams

3.  Found (a memoir), by Jennifer Lauck

4.  Untied (a memoir), by Meredith Baxter

 

Still Reading:

My Hollywood, by Mona Simpson

 

What’s Up Next?

1.  Mothers and Daughters, by Rae Meadows (review book)

“Rae Meadows has written a richly textured novel of three generations of mothers and daughters who by finding each other, find themselves. In these beautifully interwoven stories of birth and death, love and loss, Violet, Iris, and Samantha explore the genetic threads that connect each to the others. Mothers and Daughters is a powerful novel of women’s secrets and strength.” – Sandra Dallas, New York Times best-selling author of Prayers for Sale and Whiter Than Snow….

2.  Sing You Home, by Jodi Picoult

“Sing You Home deftly personalizes the political, delivering a larger message of tolerance that’s difficult to fault.” —Entertainment Weekly

“An immensely entertaining melodrama with crackerjack dialogue that kept me happily indoors for an entire weekend.” —USA Today

“[Jodi Picoult] has crafted another winner. . . Picoult cleverly examines the modern world of reproductive science, how best to nurture a child and what, exactly, being a family means.” —People

3.  Pictures of You, by Caroline Leavitt

The Boston Globe describes Pictures of You “as part literary mystery, part domestic drama, and part psychological examination,” and, indeed, the novel kept most critics on their toes the entire time. A novel of loss, redemption, forgiveness, and self-discovery, the intertwining stories grapple not only with the tragedy but also with the mystery of April’s hasty departure from her family. Reviewers commented that what could have been a maudlin, predictable storyline instead becomes fresh with Leavitt’s direct, unsentimental writing; her you-are-here details; and her fully convincing characters. Readers who enjoy both fine storytelling and writing will be sure to savor this novel….

 

And that’s it for this week.  What are the rest of you reading?  I hope you’ll pop in and share….