LemuriaBooks

The God of War by Marisa Silver, 2008, Simon & Schuster, $23.00.


My new friend at Simon & Schuster, Wendy, emailed me about this book and told me it was a "Must Read". Well folks, she did not steer me wrong - it was a great story that will stay with me for a long while. It is a coming of age book about a 12 year boy, Ares, and his flighty mother and half brother, Malcolm, who is mentally challenged and cannot speak. Ares is exactly six years older than Malcolm and holds a secret close to him at all times. Ares thinks he is the cause of Malcolm's mental disability because when Malcolm was a baby, Ares accidentally dropped Malcolm on the concrete at a gas station. Laurel, the mother, and Malcolm were rushed to the hospital, while leaving Ares behind. As he tells the story, the convenience store clerk was the one to take Ares to the emergency room to find his family. Laurel does not know that Ares blames himself for his brother's condition and why Ares feels like he always has to protect his younger brother. Laurel is a free spirit whose maternal instincts border on incompetent because while she does have a job and does the basics of raising her sons, Ares is the one left in complete charge of Malcolm and his daily activities. This responsibility for a 12 year is daunting and Ares struggles with his guilty feelings and resentment that he does not have a normal kid brother who does not have to be watched 24 hours a day. The three live in a trailer on the edge of Southern California's Salton Sea.

This is a fast and great read...I bonded with the characters, especially Ares (whose name means God of War). I was not sure as I read the story that he would have a happy life, but after I finished I reflected and decided his life, especially his adolescent life, while troubled was almost larger than life. I can totally see a production company scooping this story up and making a wonderful movie!

The House at Riverton by Kate Morton, 2008, Atria Books, a division of Simon & Schuster, $24.95

I loved this book! In fact after the first four pages, I was totally in love with the main character, Grace. In the present day(1999) Grace is ninety-eight years old and living in a nursing home. Grace once worked as a servant at the great English country manor, Riverton. In the summer of 1924 the family who owned Riverton held a midsummer's night affair that turned very tragic when a young poet shot himself...and Grace was a witness and she is the only person still living who knows the truth.

Grace is visited by a film director who has written a screenplay about the death of the famous poet and the family who owned Riverton. The young director starts asking Grace questions that makes Grace face memories that she had long ago decided to forget. In all the reminiscing of her life at Riverton and with the family, Grace decides to start making audio tapes for her grandson, so after she is gone the truth of what happened will not die with her.

This is Kate Morton's debut novel, and I was blown away with her characters and writing. The story has it all...mystery, family secrets, death, war, jealousy,
true love, passion and best of all...a haunting ending. If you like The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Settlerfield or The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, then you will definitely like this romantic, suspenseful tale.

The Outlander by Gil Adamson, 2008, Ecco, a division of HarperCollins, $25.95. (First Edition Club pick for May)

I have struggled coming up with a review of Gil Adamson's debut novel, The Outlander for over two months now, and this morning I read the latest edition of BookPage, and lucky me, my new favorite book reviewer, Kristy Kiernan, has a fantastic review...so let me give her the honors...

No country for young widows

REVIEW BY KRISTY KIERNAN

In 1903, the wilds of Montana and Alberta, Canada, and the frozen peaks of the Rockies challenged the most adventurous and experienced explorers. Only someone desperate, perhaps even mad, would dare consider them a viable escape route, but then Mary Boulton, most often referred to in Gil Adamson's suspenseful debut, The Outlander, as "the widow," is surely both.

After the death of her infant, Mary slowly begins to work her way out of a crippling depression, only to be confronted with evidence of her husband's infidelity. Alone in a desolate and friendless landscape, Mary loses her last shred of sanity and kills him, living with his body while sewing her mourning gown. Her reckless act is discovered soon enough, sending the widow fleeing across the harsh land with her twin brothers-in-law, seeking revenge, hot on her trail.

Throughout her travels the widow suffers from frightening delusions, as well as the ever-present threats of starvation and frostbite, but she presses onward and upward, making her way through treacherous mountain passes, dodging wolves, deadly arrows and capture. A host of interesting characters cross her erratic path, providing shelter, company or simply an opportunity to steal provisions, and her encounters with a notorious mountain man known as the Ridgerunner are especially compelling.

As the widow's wilderness knowledge and competence improves, so does her mental condition, and by the time she arrives in Frank, a mining town in southwest Alberta, she's nearly got a grip on her sanity. But nothing will stop her husband's brothers, and soon after the famous Frank Slide, when 74 million tons of mountain crashed to the valley below, they manage to catch up to her.

Readers will feel as breathless as Mary as they follow her frantic dash across the snow-bound mountains. Combining the best escape-over-hazardous-terrain action from novels like Cold Mountain with moody, literary prose, The Outlander is an utterly gripping debut.

Kristy Kiernan writes from South Florida and determinedly avoids all snowy mountains.

The Seer of Shadows by Avi, HarperCollins, 2008, $16.99 (Young Adult Fiction - Ages 8 to 12)

I like to work in Oz (our children's book room) and check out all the books I didn't read growing up and all the new books now available. I picked up this book because the picture on the dust jacket caught my eye. I know, I know, don't judge a book by it's cover. But hey, don't shoot me, if a cover is good looking and appealing, I am more likely to pick it up and read the inside of the jacket, especially if I am not familiar with the author. And I was not familiar with Avi, but now I know I should be. He won the Newberry Medal for his book, Crispin: The Cross of Lead. Avi mainly writes novels for the young adult genre.


In The Seer of Shadows, the main character is a fourteen year old boy named Horace, and the time frame of the story is 1872 in New York City. Horace is old enough to leave his home and family to become an apprentice to a local society photographer, Enoch Middleditch. Horace is bright and fascinated with the new art and science of photography.

One day a new, wealthy customer comes calling on Mr. Middleditch. Mrs. Von Macht explains she and her husband recently buried their only teenaged daughter, Eleanora, and while she realizes the request may seem odd to Mr. Middleditch, she wants him to photograph her and put the image on Eleanora's grave stone. Mr. Middleditch, who Horace learns is less than honest, has no problem with this strange request because he sees how rich Mrs. Von Macht is, and believes he can take advantage of her during this vulnerable time. He also boasts to Horace he thinks Mrs. Von Macht will be pleased , and he will make a name for himself among her wealthy, high society friends. Horace is not so convinced this remarkable request and Mrs. Von Macht are what they seem. He soon learns from Mrs. Von Macht's servant girl, Pegg, the truth of Eleanora's life and untimely death.

After the photographs of Mrs. Von Macht have been taken, strange things happen...Horace begins to see Eleanora. He and Pegg figure out that the light for the camera is bringing Eleanora back from the dead! And she is on a vicious path of revenge against her adoptive parents, the Von Machts. The two youth come up with a plan to help ease Eleanora's soul and save the Von Machts with the magic of photography.

I really was surprised how much I liked this book, and truly wish I had stories like this to read when I was young and becoming an avid reader. The author's development of the characters were right on because I totally bonded with Pegg and Horace...and of course, Eleanora! This is not a scary ghost story, but I feel like 8 and 9 year olds may not be able to handle the circumstances around Eleanora's true death. I will recommend this book and author in the future...even to readers my age (which is a tiny bit older than 8 to 12 years old - HA!)

Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin, Peguin Books, 2006, $15.00

The store's book club, appropriately named The Lost Book Club of Atlantis, meets the first Thursday of each month at 5:30 pm, and this upcoming Thursday, we will be discussing one of my favorite reads, Three Cups of Tea.

I first read this book when it was released in 2006 and LOVED IT! I am re-reading it now, and I am catching things this time around that either I didn't catch on the first reading or I simply have forgotten. It is a true story about Greg Mortenson, who was an avid mountain climber. In 1993 he was in Pakistan trying to climb K2 and on the way down he got lost. He ended up in a very remote village and was taken in by these amazingly hospitable villagers. He soon realizes that this village and many, many more like it have no basic schools for the children. So instead of drowning in depression for his failed attempt at K2, he makes it his life's mission to build a school for this village.

I don't want to spoil the story for you if you haven't read it, but I do recommend that you pick this book up and read it. I guarantee you will enjoy it! If you are in the neighborhood, we would love for you to come to our book club group this Thursday.

Girls in Trucks by Katie Crouch, Little Brown, 2008, $21.95.

This is one of my new favorite books I have read this year. I am a sucker for a Southern girl who can hold her own. I ran across a great review in BookPage (below) that I thought was so much better than what I would have written.

Respecting your roots

REVIEW BY KRISTY KIERNAN

Listen up, y'all: Katie Crouch might be new on the literary block, but don't let the pristine white gown fool you—this is one wise, witty, heartbreaking debutante. Crouch's heroine, Sarah Walters, introduces us to Charleston, South Carolina's contemporary culture, which still includes Cotillion (instruction in formal dance, etiquette and social skills that the South continues to hold dear, like saying hello to perfect strangers on the street) in sharp-as-bougainvillea-thorns prose.

But Sarah and her fellow "Camellia Girls" must deal with more than white gloves and sweaty boys treading on their toes while attempting the foxtrot. These modern debutantes get accepted to Ivy League schools and get involved in and addicted to alcohol, drugs and bad men. They move to New York City and party, sleep around, get sick and sometimes even get clean, but they also remember their roots, and they're there for each other and for their families when it, inevitably, all falls apart.

Occasionally allowing us glimpses of the inner lives of her fellow debutantes, Sarah Walters has a fresh and winning voice, and Crouch easily maintains the reader's interest in her funny, painful journey all the way to the last page despite the lack of a conventionally laid-out plot. Girls in Trucks is not exactly experimental fiction—it's told in the linked-short-story format used in books like The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing—but it's not your grandmother's Southern saga either.

When Sarah returns to Charleston after tragedy strikes, nothing much has changed on the surface, but then nothing is what she thought it was in the first place, including her own mother or the other women in her life. These steel magnolias have plenty of rust, but they're all doing their best, and Sarah discovers that her best just might have come from the very place she's tried so hard to get away from.

Girls in Trucks is an exceptional, stylish debut from a refreshing new voice in fiction. An invitation to the ball has been issued, and I strongly suggest you attend.

The View from the Seventh Layer by Kevin Brockmeier, Pantheon Books, a division of Random House, Inc., 2008, $21.95.

You may remember Kevin Brockmeier's 2006 novel, The Brief History of the Dead...about a futuristic City of the Dead. We all here at the bookstore enjoyed it, and we are looking forward to his visit this Thursday. He will be here to sign and read from his short story collection The View from the Seventh Layer. I have read several of the thirteen stories and have two favorites, first the title story, The View from the Seventh Layer. Olivia is the main character in this story, and she lives and works on a small, tourist island. She thinks she has been visited by an Entity from the seventh layer of the atmosphere which has left her in an odd state of being. Before the Entity visited her, she loved to read books and likes to describe the people who read certain authors, like, "People who read Anne Lamott, like people who read Anne Rice, believe that tragedy is romantic, but the people who read Anne Lamott believe it ironically." These little random snippets are funny to me. Also, peppered throughout the story, Olivia recalls what she wrote in her classmates' yearbooks as they graduated from high school. " In Judy Cossey's yearbook she wrote: When we were in the eighth grade, I found a love note from Daniel Diehl to you on the floor of Miss Mount's room, and I kept it in my purse for more than a week before I slipped it back into your locker." I cracked up several times reading her inscriptions and knew Olivia was touched even before the Entity touched her!

The second story I liked a lot is the last one, titled, A Fable with Slips of White Paper Spilling from the Pockets. It is about a man who purchases an overcoat at a thrift shop, and he begins to find curious notes in the pockets. Eventually, he feels like the coat must have belong to God, because the notes are very similar to prayers, "Please let my mom know I love her. I'll never touch another cigarette as long as I life if you'll just make the lump go away. Give me back the joy I used to know." The man realizes that the notes with the requests or wishes begin to appear soon after he comes in contact with the individual who is making the request or wish or prayer. And he starts to try to acknowledge the person who made the prayer. This reminded me of the theme from the movie, Pay It Forward, where if something good happens to you when you are in need, you must pay it forward by doing something good or humane to someone who is in need. This fable was so sweet and really touched me. I truly look forward to meeting Mr. Brockmeier and listening to him read from the book. Please join us this Thursday, April 17th starting at 5 pm.

Tonight (Saturday, April 12th starting at 8 am CST) on the Lifetime channel will be an adaptation of Kim Edwards' The Memory Keeper's Daughter. This is a fantastic story, and all of us here at the bookstore loved this book. I don't know how well Lifetime will stay true to the book, but I like the actors they have selected (Dermot Mulroney, Gretchen Mol and Emily Watson). I have to admit Lifetime channel is not one of my favorites, but I will be watching it tonight!

The Secret Adventures of Charlotte Bronte by Laura Joh Rowland, Overlook Press, 2008, $24.95

When I first saw the ARC (advance reader copy) for this book, the title intrigued me because I am an Austen and Bronte sisters fan. I did not know what to expect as I started to read it. I knew Laura Joh Rowland (who lives down the road in NO,LA) was a mystery writer and has a series with a samurai detective. But as I got further into the book, I was thinking to myself "this is not what I was thinking the book would read like". The story is about Charlotte Bronte, author of Jane Eyre, and her true life family. She receives a letter from her publisher with disturbing news that her works and her sisters, all penned under the surname of Bell, are being falsely accused of breaching the publisher's contract. Charlotte is outraged and travels to London to clear her family's name. On the train traveling to London, Charlotte and her sister, Anne, meet a mysterious woman. Subsequently, this woman is found murdered, but not before she involves Charlotte and Anne into a thick plot of adventure and romance. Charlotte takes it upon herself to solve this woman's murder, and in doing so puts her life in real danger and that of her family back in the English countryside. Even though it was a far fetched concept of putting a true classics author in a strange and twisted thriller, it worked for me, and I truly enjoyed Charlotte's adventure. Now that the book has been released and on our shelf, I am in love with the dust jacket. As you can guess from my blogs, I am a sucker for 19th century writing and of course, fashion.

Mudbound by Hillary Jordan, 2008, Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, $22.95

I am excited about our author event tonight (Thursday, March 20th, starting at 5:00 pm), we will be hosting Hillary Jordan. You may have seen one of the many reviews of her new book, Mudbound, in a magazine or online site...everywhere you turn, this book is being reviewed. And the reviews are fantastic! I wholeheartedly agree with the glowing reviews. This novel was very good. I am partial to Southern fiction, and especially stories written with Mississippi as the location. While the story takes place in a dark period in Mississippi's past, Ms. Jordan describes the grand Delta region as if she had lived there all her life. The characters are so real and down to earth, like most people from the Delta are. Her descriptions of the families' struggles with the land and with 1940s racism are so strong that the reader feels like he/she is living in that period of time. I loved how Ms. Jordan wrote each chapter from the point of view of several of the key characters, so you get each person's perspective of the same events. I am looking forward to her reading some excerpts tonight. Please join us, and if you miss it, please don't miss out on a good read!!!

Gardens of Water by Alan Drew, 2008, Random House, $25.00

I read the ARC (Advance Reader Copy) of this debut novel in December, and with the rush of the holidays and shopping, I didn't truly appreciate the story. But now that the book is out, and I have read other reviews, I've changed my mind. The story is about a Kurdish family and an American family living in the same apartment complex in Turkey. A massive and devastating earthquake literally shakes up the two families, and they become refugees in a tent city. The Kurdish family are devout Muslims and the American family have a Christian background. Each family has a teenager, and there is innocent flirting before the earthquake between the Muslim girl and the American boy. After the earthquake, emotions build around the families' constant tension of living in deplorable conditions and the lack of international aid. A modern day Romeo and Juliet love story develops between the teenagers. This is a beautiful, but heartbreaking story about religion, culture and coming of age in a stressful and volatile location. I would not recommend for light beach reading, but I would recommend this book, especially to book clubs.

The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen by Syrie James, 2008, Avon, a division of HarperCollins, $13.95.

Yes, I freely admit to being a Jane Austen fan, er freak! And I have been in hog heaven every Sunday night this Winter while PBS has aired adaptations of her novels. Last Sunday was the final installment of Pride & Prejudice, one of my all time favorite stories, and it was Oscar night - my TV remote got an excellent workout!

I am not a rabid Jane Austen purist, and I am happy reading all the recent books pertaining to Austen, i.e. The Jane Austen Book Club, Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict, Austenland, etc. So I was thrilled when Maggie (another awesome bookseller) alerted me to this new historical fiction book about Jane Austen's life...more importantly, her romantic life. Not much is known about Austen's personal life regarding any romances, but historians have found two promising periods of her life where we all hope she experienced the type of love that she so expertly inspired in her romantic tales.

This story gives us one such scenario. I did have a hard time reading this book and remembering it was only fiction. I so want to hope Jane Austen truly had a great love affair within her short life - I want to believe she had a kiss that knocked her socks off! And this story did that and more for my heart. 4 stars from this hopeless romantic bookseller!

Banana, The Fate of the Fruit That Changed the World by Dan Koeppel, 2008, Hudson Street Press, a member of Penguin Group, $23.95.

So two weeks ago, a former store employee comes in the store inquiring about this "banana" book. She had just heard an intriguing review on NPR NPR Review Subsequently, she bought our only copy, and I didn't think much of it until (no lie!) about 30 minutes later a customer walks in asking for a copy of the "banana" book. Then as any good bookseller worth her salt, I jumped online to find out what the fuss was all about. The review piqued my interest, and low and behold, I just finished reading the entire book. The book has all the great elements of a mystery novel - you have the main character, the beloved yellow fruit, it's most gripping history, it's constant struggle and it's hopeful survival. I learned so much history, science and botany surrounding the ubiquitous fruit that I will never be able to eat a banana without remembering it's very fascinating history. This book is fast paced and choked full of entertaining facts and reads more like fiction than non-fiction. I give it my top stamp of approval (a blue Chiquita sticker - ha!) - good eats and good reads!

Someone Knows My Name by Lawrence Hill, 2007, W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., $24.95

I recently finished reading, rather savoring, this captivating story of one woman's life. Her name is Aminata, and she was born and raised in Africa around 1750. She and her parents lived in a village that was not accustomed to teaching a child, much less a female child, how to read and write, but Aminata's parents are exceptional. Her father is a practicing Muslim and secretly teaches his daughter prayers from the Qur'an. Aminata's mother is a gifted midwife, who takes Aminata to every child birthing event so Aminata can learn the way of "catching babies". These two skills will stay with Aminata forever and help her throughout her entire life.

Now the hard part for the reader...Aminata's story takes a horrible turn that is so heart wrenching and emotional that as the reader you almost want to skip to the next chapter, but you must stay with this child through her journey, and after every page and every chapter, you are sure her life will never get better or her circumstances will likely never improve, but Aminata is a survivor!

Her life's story is so fascinating, and if you are a history buff, you will have double the pleasure of reading the remarkable journey through a period of time in our own country's struggle to deal with the institution of slavery. As you may have guessed, Aminata is kidnapped and enslaved in the South, but she is strong and uses her skills to gain advancement in the slave world. She is always fighting for her freedom and becomes a shrewd and formidable woman. She overcomes so much misery and is always helping others less fortunate, that the reader is cheering for her the whole way and not feeling sorry for her. In the end, she is in her late sixties and stands strong one last time...she tells her life's story to the English Parliament in an effort to gain her freedom and that of her people.

DO NOT hesitate for one second that this book is a sad and hopeless book - quite the opposite is true. While it is extremely hard to be an eyewitness to her tragic life, it is this woman's soul and determination that stirs the reader's spirit. This book has definitely moved into my list of TOP 5 greatest books I've ever read. I will forever remember Aminata's story. Please, please don't pass this book up...this may sound hokey, but you will have a better appreciation of life - the good, the bad and the very bad - after you have finished savoring this novel.

I am so very excited - finally Sunday, January 13th is here! Are you asking yourself, what is this chick talking about? Well, I am a HUGE Jane Austen fan, and tonight on PBS, Masterpiece Theatre starts it's THE COMPLETE JANE AUSTEN series. For 10 Sundays, Masterpiece presents adaptations of all of the Jane Austen novels, and a new biopic of her life.

Persuasion starts tonight, January 20th is Northanger Abbey; January 27th is Mansfield Park; February 3rd is Miss Austen Regrets; February 10, 17 & 24th is Pride and Prejudice (starring Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy); March 23rd is Emma; and March 30 & April 6th is Sense and Sensibility.

We have copies of all these novels and more of Miss Austen's writings. Please come in and browse our selection - read a novel and watch the movie adaptation on PBS. The Complete Jane Austen at Masterpiece online - http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/austen/index.html

Also, I would love to hear from anyone who enjoys Jane Austen - reply to this post with your thoughts!

You have to love a book that opens up with a quote from our literary queen, Miss Eudora Welty! And that's just what Deborah Johnson's The Air Between Us does...A reporter once asked Eudora Welty why she felt there were so many writers coming out of Mississippi. To which Miss Welty replied, "I imagine it's because we have so much explaining to do."

Ms. Johnson now lives and works in Columbus, Mississippi, and she will be in our store this Wednesday, January 16th at 5 pm signing and reading from her new novel, which is set in the fictitious town of Revere, Mississippi. And you would be correct if you guessed the story was about Mississippi and racial segregation, BUT you must throw that Southern stereotype out the door. This beautiful story reads like a tale your grandmother might have told you as you were growing up. It's about friendships between whites and blacks, and how we truly all can get along together - even through the mysteries, struggles and good times of our lives in the Deep South.

Mark your calendars and come join us as we welcome Deborah Johnson to the coolest bookstore in the South!

Jennifer