Sometimes you read a book and it turns out to be perfect timing. You might not know it when you start the book but then, as you read and your life unfolds, the unexpected becomes a gift. That’s what happened as I read Imperfect Endings by Zoe FitzGerald Carter. In Imperfect Endings, Zoe expertly tells the story about her mother’s decision to end her life and the difficult days that follow. Zoe deftly weaves the end-of-life narration with childhood experiences as she and her two sisters navigate this unexpected turn in their lives. Written with grace and honesty, Zoe captures recognizable emotions about how we get along, or don’t get along with our parents and our siblings. Her eloquent exploration of these primal feelings is like art in its simplicity and transparency. Zoe says to her sister, “I’m totally losing it, Han. I feel like I’m sleepwalking.” “You’re overloaded,” Hannah…
Category: Book Reviews
Russian Bride by Alla Crone
Russian Bride: free at last by Alla Crone Review by Jeane Slone: What was it like to be a Russian bride married to a physician in the U.S. Army Air Corps and immigrating to the United States from Shanghai? Nina is thrown into a world of new customs and left to perform hostess duties to her husband’s colleagues. She is surrounded by a mother and mother-in-law, both of whom have caustic and critical personalities. Fortunately, Dick is a delightful and understanding husband. This novel is a mix of humor, joy and sadness. A fast read! Jeane Slone is a past vice-president and board member of the Redwood Branch of the California Writer’s Club, a member of the Healdsburg Literary Guild, the Military Writer’s Society of America, and the Pacific Coast Air Museum. Jeane emcees the Dining With Local Authors program and distributes local authors’ books throughout Sonoma County. She has…
Talent by B. Lynn Goodwin
Lynn B. Goodwin’s Talent reviewed by Judy Williams Talent, by B. Lynn Goodwin, is a wonderful read. It is a coming of age story that will bring older readers back to their teenage years and will give younger readers a positive and very real heroine. Sandee copes with challenges as diverse as auditioning for the drama department production of “Oklahoma” and the pain and uncertainty of Sandee’s older brother, missing in Afghanistan. A little chunky, Sandee eats M & M’s to cope. The other people who inhabit Sandee’s world — her parents, her next door neighbor and former boyfriend, her brother’s best friend, drama department students, the Oklahoma director Mrs. G., and others who have family and friends in the military – all are part of Sandee’s journey, but also have their own joys and sorrows. Insightful, and alternately funny and sad, Talent is for Young Adults and Adults. It…
Fifty Shades of Grammar by Arlene Miller
Fifty Shades of Grammar: Scintillating and Saucy Sentences, Syntax, and Semantics from The Grammar Diva, Reviewed by Sheri Graves The Grammar Diva has done it again! Arlene Miller’s Fifty Shades of Grammar is one of the most easy to understand of all grammar books ever published. Subtitled, “Scintillating and Saucy Sentences, Syntax and Semantics from the Grammar Diva,” this book may be Miller’s crowning achievement, yet it certainly is not her last book on the subject. Fifty Shades of Grammar is Miller’s sixth book on grammar, and I suspect she’s working on a seventh even now. What Arlene Miller does in her books is simplify the rules. She gives advice on grammar problems that have confounded writers of the English language since, well, forever. And she does so in a way that makes sense. Take, for example, the problem of whether to use who or whom. Her advice: Substitute the…
Heliotrope by JC Miller
Heliotrope reviewed by Ana Manwaring. JC Miller’s latest novel, Heliotrope, has been called “a coming of age story for the ages.” And it’s more than that. Heliotrope is a story about finding one’s path in a complicated world and finding peace in one’s own skin. It’s about finding a place we belong. For Kit Hilliard, home is a place to escape. She goes as far from the dusty, brown desert town of her shattered childhood as she can, to attend college in the lush world of 1975 Arcata, California. “Kit’s vision filled with green, quenching the arid ground of her birthplace, softening the brittle places in her heart. Eager to reinvent her life and thirsty for uncharted ground, Kit opened up like a flower turning to light.” But on the cusp of her senior year and graduation, her world begins to shift. Kit falls in love with her senior seminar…
Chronicles of Old San Francisco by Gael Chandler
Looking for a gift for the person who has everything? How about a unique book on his or her hometown, or the city where the person currently lives, or a favorite city? I just finished reading Chronicles of Old San Francisco by Gael Chandler and am very excited to share my hometown via this excellent resource. Whether an armchair traveler or a get-up-and-get-going kind of person, Chronicles of Old San Francisco informs, enlightens and inspires visiting Baghdad By The Bay, as columnist Herb Caen called his favorite city. Gael collected a monumental amount of research and with attention to detail, created intimate stories about historical figures, as if she interviewed them in their huts, ranchos, schooners, theatres, residences, offices, stores. I wish she had written history books when I was in school. I would have paid better attention. From the back cover: “Chronicles of Old San Francisco tells the story…
Rose of Sharon by Arletta Dawdy
Arletta Dawdy‘s strong writing skills are evident as she gives life to the fictional characters in Rose of Sharon. Arletta deftly weaves scenery and characters, using her extensive vocabulary to create a vivid backdrop for lives unfolding in this novel that reads like a true story. From the back cover: Mark Wiederanders, author of Stevenson’s Treasure: “Arletta Dawdy’s Rose of Sharon is a delightful, wonderfully-imagined prequel to John Steinback’s The Grapes of Wrath. . . Depression, racism, forbidden love, birth, death, heartbreak and lots of hard ranch-work are all part of Rose’s daily experience.” Susan Nunn, author of Song of the Earth: “Characters are born out of the fabric of their landscape, and when a writer has a sense of place, knows place like none other, it all comes together so well.” Kay Mehl Miller, Ph.D,, author of Love Comes At Twilight: A Love Story for Seniors: “Whether it’s with…
By Grace by Arletta Dawdy
By Grace – Reviewed by Marlene Cullen Extraordinary writing by Arletta Dawdy who must have done a ton of research for this entertaining story containing so much factual detail I feel as if I took this trip alongside heroine Grace Pelham. Arletta tells a compelling story in the best story-teller tradition. I was mesmerized and couldn’t wait to find out what happens next. Arletta holds up her end of the author-reader bargain, taking me out of my world and into the world of Grace Pelham, filled with intriguing characters, gorgeous landscape, creativity and human scoundrels as well as kindness. Arletta brings these fully dimensional characters to life in her unique way. Her writing is absolutely exquisite and dazzling. I’m not the only one who finds Arletta’s writing creative and delightful. From the back cover: “A good book also has characters that intrigue and change and in the midst of the…
Deep Doo Doo by Sheri Graves
Reviewed by Robin Moore Don’t be fooled by squawking geese. This is not a farm tale! Author Sheri Graves snagged this reader with her witty mystery Deep Doo Doo. It is one of those novels that is truly hard to put down. It moves along quickly and made me wonder what could possibly happen next to reporter Carrie McClelland. I highly recommend this novel! In fact, it has proven to be my favorite read this summer. Robin Moore has always enjoyed writing. After several years of working in elementary and middle schools, helping kids read and write, she is now able to devote her time to writing books for kids. She is editing novels she has written as part of the National Novel Writers Month organization. Reviewed by Christian Lane Bam. Fantastic. It’s pretty hard to read Deep Doo Doo in a month. It’s so catchy you’ll gobble it up…
#Much Better #Thanks for Asking by Christian Lane
Reviewed by Sheri Graves. Christian Lane is a fine writer, a talented poet and an entertaining performance artist kind of like the morning-after remnants of yesteryear’s Beat Poetry folks. His latest book, #Much Better #Thanks for Asking, was published earlier this year and draws on a previous unofficial, handmade chapbook he wrote in 2000 called, I Stand Corrected. Reading Christian Lane’s work is a journey down the rabbit hole of his colorful mind. But his true, raw, naked musings are much better appreciated when his shadow-self crawls into a microphone while he delivers his poetry as performance. This he does frequently in various venues. #Much Better #Thanks for Asking is a book of poetry best read aloud, even when alone. The verse lends itself to the sounds of words as well as to their meanings. Don’t expect correct punctuation, proper sentences or standard structure. There are those who might call…