Caroline Kennedy

We've been awfully quiet on the blog front lately, now haven't we?   Is anybody reading besides Gwennie?

I just read a book that's not out yet so I'm not going to talk about it yet, but I did L-O-V-E it and get weepy just thinking about it.  Anyway, my doppleganger*, Caroline Kennedy, just did a Q&A with the New York Times for the Sunday Book Review and I really liked her answers.  If you would like to read along, here's the article. Enjoy!

...

*I don't claim her as my doppleganger, but she's the only person I have been compared to multiple times - at the gym, at the office, walking down the street.  It's weird.  

Peter and the Starcatchers

Or...what to read when you need a Jim Dale fix and you don't want to listen to the Harry Potter books again.

Mary Rollins and I are loving the Peter and the Starcatchers series, written by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson.  I don't know about you, but I was always a fan of Dave Barry's column back in the day which was probably the days before Peddie and Isabug knew how to read. 

In anticipation of a recent mom & daughter college visit driving adventure, I bought Peter & the Starcatchers audiobook narrated by Jim Dale to entertain us on our way to North Carolina & Virginia.  We finished the first book en route and enjoyed it so much that I needed the second book, Peter & the Shadow Thieves for the drive home.  They were delightful, combining both a very good story and the most wonderful reading by everyone's favorite narrator, Jim Dale.  While it was a little odd to hear the female protagonist speaking with Hermione's voice and we had to remind ourselves each time we turned the book on that we were listening to Peter and not Harry -- it was a worthy substitute.  And, unlike so many YA books, these are actually well written and the dialogue is funny rather than awkward and stilted (i.e. "Sleep, my Bella. Dream happy dreams. You are the only one who has ever touched my heart. It will always be yours. Sleep, my only love."). 

Next week we are listening to third book as we head off to visit Belmont University.

What are you reading?

Study in Scarlet/Pink/etc.

I may or may not have been inspired to return to my Sherlockholmsings due to a recent turn of events in the stuff-I-view-life, but just throwing this out there...

I like your funny hat

Sherlock Holmes makes for great reading ;) Fun, inbetween reading, if you will, but great! (also, Benedict Cumberbatch reads them to get into character, which is another kind of great. Shouldn't he be somebody on Downtown Abbey?)

*PS: the Complete Sherlock Holmes is free on Kindle, fyi.

The Chaperone by Laura Moriarty

Don't you love historical fiction?  I do.

I just finished Laura Moriary's The Chaperone -- a story based around the legendary Louise Brooks (silent film star not our cousin) and her arrival in New York to attend the Denishawn Ballet school as a fifteen-year old.  She is acompanied by Cora Carlisle, a housewife from Louise's hometown of Wichita Kansas.  While the real story is Cora's journey and awakening during the upheaval of the 1920s, the historical perspective of the period interwoven with the factual details of Louise's life round out the book to be an excellent read rich in both plot and character development. 

It was a good listen, too, except that the book was narrated by Elizabeth McGovern (Downton Abbey) and her accent (lack of accent?)  was a little odd.  Elizabeth McGovern is an excellent Cora, Countess of Grantham, but maybe not the very best choice for Cora of Wichita, KS. 

Casual Vacancy

Has anyone read J. K. Rowling's new book?  I'm intrigued. 


Also....Hilarious.

Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness

Well, as it turns out I have been reading books lately and the last one I read ... actually 2 books ago now (I'm reading more than I think I am)... was also quite thrilling.  Though in another sense of the word, I'm sure.  I'm about to start Gone Girl so I'll let you know.

Brain on Fire is a book that one of the imprints I work for (full disclosure) is publishing in November and it was really, really good.  Amazing even?  I was pretty interested in reading it since it took us a while to come up with a cover so I heard lots of details to describe it and woah.  Girl catches rare disease, goes crazy, symptoms don't match any specific medical case, doctors are confused, parents are confused,  girl is dying...  magical doctor finds a cure.  I think you'll want to pick it up.  Actually, if you are Mere and you are reading this you can pick it up because I left it at your house.  Remember?

So it's a memoir of sorts, although she readily admits to not remembering a lot of her "month of madness" and had to rely on her father's journal entries and footage from the cameras in her hospital room.  Are you intrigued?   Check it out!

I wonder if it will be an audiobook.

Gone Girl

I can't stop listening to this...

Gwenda Williamson Mathews...3 days after...



I've stopped listening to it now because it's over.  It was absolutely gripping.  That's right -- gripping!  Honestly, how often do you use that word in real life about a book.  I even planned my last few days around doing mindless tasks that wouldn't interrupt my listening. 

I bought this a couple of months ago because I read a review in our local paper that made it sound so intriguing but I put off reading it because

a.  I had to finish A Clash of Kings

b.  Then I read the Persimmon Tree (loved it and forgot to mention it in my list of the last post)

c.  I had to listen to Echo in the Bone because we were driving through New England and I wanted a Colonial America reading fix at the same time and, well, those Outlander books take a while to finish

And finally, post-Echo in the Bone, I just couldn't wait anymore and I wanted to read it because it's the Number 1 NY Times best selling book but I have yet to hear anybody talk about this book yet.  Maybe, like me everybody read an early review from its release, bought the book, but then didn't have time to read it.  Clearly that must be the case because I haven't heard anybody talking about it and they should be!  It's fantastic.  The audio book is superbly done.

So quick run-down.  Amy Elliott Dunne is gone.  And, in a ripped from the headlines fashion, her husband Nick is naturally the number one suspect. The story told in first person excerpts by Amy and Nick who may or may not be reliable narrators.  I can't tell you anymore because I don't want to ruin any surprises but in the midst of the suspense and mystery be prepared for dark, twisted and interesting commentary on modern life in America. Brilliant.