MONDAY MEMES: MAILBOX & WHAT ARE YOU READING? — JUNE 27

Journeying Through Those Old TBRs

 

Here we are on another Monday, reading to participate in Mailbox Monday, hosted by Bluestocking this month; and What Are You Reading, hosted by Book Journey.

 

MAILBOX MONDAY:

 

This week, I received no review books, but I did receive an e-book for my Kindle.

Heat Wave, by Nancy Thayer, is one I preordered awhile back.

Unerringly perceptive, superbly written, every page packed with the warmth and compassionate wisdom that have become Nancy Thayer’s trademark, Heat Wave tells the moving story of a woman who, after her seemingly perfect life unravels, must find the strength to live and love again.

Making the startling discovery that her family finances are in dire straits is only the latest shock endured by Carley Winsted after her husband’s sudden death from a heart attack. Resisting her in-laws’ well-meaning overtures to take in Carley and her two daughters, the young widow instead devises a plan to keep her family in their beloved home, a grand historic house on the island of Nantucket.

The solution is right at Carley’s front door: transforming her expensive, expansive house into a bed-and-breakfast. Not everyone, however, thinks this plan prudent or quite respectable—especially not Carley’s mother-in-law. Further complicating a myriad of challenges, a friend forces Carley to keep a secret that, if revealed, will undo families and friendships.

When her late husband’s former law partner keeps showing up at the most unexpected times, Carley must cope with an array of mixed feelings. And then, during a late-summer heat wave, the lives of Carley and her friends and family will be forever changed in entirely unexpected ways….

 

***

 

WHAT ARE YOU READING?

 

 

This past week was somewhat complicated by computer issues and my sudden impulse to merge a few more blogs.  You can read about that on my Weekend Potpourri — The Vanishing Blogs post.

Then, my current writing challenge ended Round Two, so focusing on that kept me busy.  On that same note, I did some excerpting over at Snow Chronicles.

Now for some book talk.

Books Read & Reviewed-Click Titles for Reviews:

1.  Dismantled, by Jennifer McMahon

2.  Daughters of the Revolution, by Carolyn Cooke

3.  Maine, by J. Courtney Sullivan

 

Still Reading:

The Magnolia League, by Katie Crouch

 

What’s Up Next?

Besides reading this  week, I’ll be going over the WIP (Interior Designs) that I got back from the Beta reader.  That might take awhile.

Then I’ll be reading these books, hopefully.

1.  Seducing the Demon, by Erica Jong (from my old TBRs)

In four discursive essays and an introduction, Jong (Fear of Flying; Any Woman’s Blues) ruminates on the elements of her writer’s life. Most notable is sexuality: pursuit of the muse has often meant pursuit of a demon lover, a man utterly wrong for her. She walks away from Ted Hughes in the 1970s, but not from many other wrong men. Jong has had four husbands, one child and 20 books in the past four decades. Now in her 60s, she’s well-read, well-traveled, therapized, happily married and sexually satisfied. Her memoir in vignettes asserts that without writing, Jong would go crazy, drink well beyond the excesses of her past and be miserable. Writing has propelled her forward into a fulfilled life….

 

2.  Black Girl White Girl, by Joyce Carol Oates (Another one from the old TBRs)

 

In 1975, racial tension still runs high at Genna Meade’s mostly white Schuyler College in Pennsylvania. Her outcast black roommate, Minette Swift, is a D.C. preacher’s daughter; Genna is descended from the college’s founder. Minette misses home desperately; Genna, in contrast, avoids her “hippie” mother’s phone calls while yearning for a visit from her absentee father, activist lawyer Maximilian Meade. Despite their differences, the girls muster an effortful friendship, due to the near-fetishization of black culture that Genna’s parents have inculcated in her. When racist incidents begin to plague Minette, Genna tries to protect her, but Minette lapses into an antisocial, dangerous depression. Meanwhile, Genna has her own problems—she’s gradually piecing together clues to a mystery whose solution may lie far too close to home for comfort. Eventually, Minette’s downward spiral prompts a shocking epiphany for Genna that will alter the course of her family’s life. Oates bravely grapples with the fallout of the Civil Rights movement, the early ’70s backlash against Summer of Love optimism, and the well-intentioned but ultimately condescending antiracist piety of privileged white liberals, but this anecdotal novel feels slight compared to her best work….

3.  Repairing Rainbows, by Linda Fishman (e-book)

At thirteen years old, Lynda’s life comes to a disastrous halt when her mother and two younger sisters are killed in a plane crash. Her father, overcome by despair, simply continues to exist, in a state devoid of hope. After burying a wife and two young children at the age of 44, the overwhelming responsibility of raising a daughter alone completely immobilizes him.

Teetering on that tender brink between childhood and adolescence, Lynda faces the responsibility of a father in a complete state of shock, a house to take care of and hundreds of decisions about how to proceed with their shattered lives.

In Repairing Rainbows she candidly describes the agonizing memories, deafening silence and endless hardships that are the fallout of incredible loss. As we follow her through marriage, motherhood and her own spiritual journey, Lynda reveals her complex feelings of hope, anger, pity and determination. Most importantly, she learns the crucial difference between “truly living” and the existence that is so often mistaken for being alive.

 

I hope that I manage all of these activities this week.  What are the rest of you planning?  I hope you’ll stop by and share….