Genre confusion, part deux

Posted in Bookish Thoughts by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Over a year ago, I wrote a post entitled Genre Confusion, in which I discussed the accidental discovery of a favorite book — which might never have happened if I’d been aware that the book often gets shelved under “romance”, which is not a genre that I typically read.

The issue becomes relevant for me again with a bizarre discovery I made yesterday — or is it a discovery at all?

I started a book fresh from my NetGalley queue and was enjoying the first little bit. Then I thought I’d double-check the page count, seeing as I have a whole lot of must-read books coming up and I want to make sure to pace myself. So I went on Amazon, looked up the book, and scrolled down to the detail section — where lo and behold, I see the books categorized as “Christian fiction”.

Whoa.

Don’t get me wrong: I have nothing against Christian fiction or its fans. But not being Christian myself nor the least bit spiritual or religious, I’m not drawn to books with a strongly faith-based or spiritual theme.

And after all, just as we all have our preferred genres, I think most of us have a list of what we won’t read as well. (For the record, mine includes courtroom dramas, extreme violence, and anything with shirtless males and/or cowboys on the cover. Or shirtless cowboys. Whatever). *

*I’d add erotica to the list, except — full disclosure — I did read the 50 Shades books. Can’t fall behind the pop culture zeitgeist, can we?

So… confusion. What to do about my current read?

I went back to NetGalley. Nope, no reference to this book being Christian fiction.

Went to the publisher’s website. Oops. They publish Bibles as well as works of inspirational fiction. Hmmm.

Went to the author’s website. She’s clearly someone of great faith — but also sounds like someone with a great literary background and a totally interesting life.

Did a Google search. Most of the early reviews for this book were by bloggers with faith-oriented blogs.

So what does this mean for me? I Googled the term “Christian fiction”. According to Wikipedia:

In North America, the Christian novel has evolved into a specific genre of its own, written explicitly by and for Christians of a particular type. Such a Christian novel does not have to involve an actual event or character in Bible history. A novel can be Christian in this sense merely because one of its characters either comes to a proper understanding of God and of man’s need for salvation from sin, or faces a crisis of his or her faith.

It goes on to say:

Deborah Bryan of the Kansas Library Association suggests that a Christian fiction writer must comply with certain restraints such as: (1) Accept the truthful authority of the Bible (2) Address dilemmas through faith in Jesus (3) Believe that Jesus died and rose for sins of all people (4) A writer is restricted from writing about certain “taboos.”. She also suggests that this genre of books typically promotes values, teaches a lesson, always has a happy ending (good prevails over evil in all books), adheres to a decency code (certain boundaries such as sexuality, strong language, and topics of such cannot be crossed), and that Christian fiction is created for defined boundaries within a particular community.

While the first paragraph above doesn’t necessarily present a problem for me, the definitions presented in the 2nd paragraph — if adhered to in a a work of fiction — would definitely make that fiction unreadable for me. Hence my current dilemma.

So far, I see nothing in the book that I’m reading that seems outside the realm of mainstream contemporary fiction. It’s the story of a young woman pursuing an education and trying to get past the traumatic events of her childhood. She also happens to be a young woman who immerses herself in classic literature as a way of shielding herself from engagement with the real world. And what I’ve read, I’ve liked. (Granted, I’ve only read about 15%, according to my Kindle — but so far, so good).

If the book continues along the path it’s on, then I think I’ll really enjoy it. I mean, I love main characters who obsess over books! What’s not to love? But if the storyline starts heading into a dogmatic, explicitly faith-based direction, then I may have a problem with it. And to a certain extent, I’d rather know now than invest more time only to be disappointed or turned off later.

And yet… if I hadn’t gone to the Amazon page, I’d have no worries and no preconceptions. So what to do?

In my earlier Genre Confusion post, I advocated for stepping outside of one’s comfort zones, exploring other shelves in the bookstore, and being open to books that sound intriguing, even if their defined genre isn’t in our go-to preferred list.

In keeping with that position, at least for now, I think I’m going to give my current read a bit more time. After all, I like what I’ve read so far, and prior to my Amazon encounter, I thought the synopsis made the book sound quite charming — and never would have known that this was considered “Christian fiction”.

Have you ever been shocked by a book’s genre? Did you ever find yourself reading a type of book that you’d swear you never read? Did you stick with it or drop it like a hot potato?

If you’ve ever had a “genre confusion” moment yourself, please share in the comments!

21Dec2013

Book Review: The Firebird by Susanna Kearsley

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Book Review: The Firebird by Susanna Kearsley

Past and present mingle deliciously in the newest novel from Susanna Kearsley, whose “time-slip” novels such as Mariana, The Winter Sea, and The Rose Garden have amassed quite a devoted following. Her books tend to blend a modern-day storyline with a gripping historical thread, to create a whole that’s emotional, dramatic, and always steeped in meticulously researched historical detail.

In The Firebird, we open with main character Nicola Marter, a specialist in Russian art and artifacts with a very big secret: psychometry, the ability to “read” an object’s past by simply touching it. Nicola was raised from childhood to never reveal her gifts, lest she be branded a freak or subjected to abuse or discrimination. When a dying woman comes to Nicola’s office with a family heirloom, hoping it’s of enough value to enable her to enjoy what time is left to her, Nicola can tell by touching the small carved bird that it was a gift to the woman’s ancestor from Empress Catherine I of Russia — but sadly, there’s no other proof. And without proof, the object has no monetary value. Enlisting the aid of her former love interest and immensely gifted psychic Rob McMorran, Nicola is determined to help the poor woman, even if it means using her gifts to figure out the carving’s origins.

There’s much, much more to the story: As it turns out, the ancestor who received the gift from the Empress was a young woman named Anna, who was raised near Slains Castle in Scotland before ending up in St. Petersburg. Readers of The Winter Sea should now be sitting up and paying close attention: Yes, it’s that Anna! If you, like me, felt saddened and even upset by the resolution of The Winter Sea, fear not! The story isn’t over; in The Firebird, we learn much more about Anna, and it isn’t what you might have expected.

As Nicola and Rob begin to investigate, they use their gifts to sense the past wherever they travel. They start at Slains, and get an immersive view of Anna’s life in the cottage where she spends her early years before encroaching danger forces her to flee. Wherever Anna’s voyage takes her in her own time, Nicola and Rob follow in the present. The Firebird follows two storylines: The first focuses on Nicola and Rob, as they seek answers about Anna and at the same time tiptoe through the landmines of their relationship. The second is the story of Anna herself, following her from childhood through her late teens, as she grows into a young woman among the high-ranking military families of St. Petersburg.

As the narrative shifts between its two threads, it’s hard to say which storyline is the more compelling. I became caught up in Nicola and Rob’s exploration, their quest for hints of the past, and their attempts to bridge the gap in their attitudes towards their gifts. At the same time, whenever the story leaves Anna to return to the present, I kind of groaned a bit and had to grind my teeth in frustration. I didn’t want to leave her! Anna’s story is fraught with tension and danger, and so naturally the overriding drama resides in her part of the tale. Still, the two halves mesh nicely, mirroring and complementing one another very naturally and seamlessly.

Part of what makes Susanna Kearsley’s books so very good is her devotion to historical accuracy and source material. As her extensive (and fascinating) author’s notes make clear, almost all of the characters in Anna’s parts of the story were real people — which I found astounding, to be honest. I had no idea, reading The Firebird, that these people weren’t all completely fictional. It was amazing to me to discover how perfectly the author matched the historical figures’ lives with their fictional counterparts’ actions, motivations, beliefs, and family ties.

Anna’s story is set in the 1710s and 1720s, and the focus, even in St. Petersburg, is on the Jacobite supporters and their tireless work to support and restore their king. The intrigues and conspiracies are at the core of Anna’s story, and yet it’s Anna herself who is the true heart of The Firebird. From the young girl living in hiding to the young woman who yearns to belong, Anna is a character of strength, integrity, and unwavering devotion and loyalty.

Overall, I found The Firebird simply mesmerizing. I loved Anna’s story and how beautifully it ties back to the people and occurrences in The Winter Sea — and I was also completely drawn into Nicola and Rob’s quest, both for the truth about the carving and for the path back into one another’s lives and hearts.

Do you need to have read The Winter Sea in order to appreciate The Firebird? Yes and no. The Firebird is complete in and of itself, and absolutely can be read as a stand-alone novel. However, there is so much connection between the two books that I do feel that the reading experience would be greatly enriched by reading The Winter Sea prior to reading The Firebird. (In fact, I found myself wishing I’d taken the time to re-read The Winter Sea, as it had been several years since I read it and some of the details were quite fuzzy for me, to say the least.)

It should be noted as well that Rob appears as a child in an earlier novel, The Shadowy Horses (which I reviewed here). It’s worth reading The Shadowy Horses first if you want to get a picture of Rob’s early life and experiences, but unlike The Winter Sea, the plot itself does not tie in directly to the events in The Firebird.

I suppose it’s clear by now that I’m a big fan of Susanna Kearsley, and can recommend without hesitation anything that she’s written. The Firebird makes the fifth book by this author that I’ve read, and I’m very much looking forward to adding a sixth to my list when her 1995 novel The Splendour Falls is reissued in the US in January, 2014. What a great way to start the new year!

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The details:

Title: The Firebird
Author: Susanna Kearsley
Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark
Publication date: 2013
Genre: Conteporary/Historical fiction
Source: Purchased

19Dec2013

Gathering Storm: Q&A with author Maggie Craig

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

I’m thrilled to welcome author Maggie Craig to Bookshelf Fantasies for a Q&A about her newest novel, Gathering Storm.

What’s it all about? Read on…

Synopsis (Goodreads):

Gathering Storm

Jacobite Intrigue and Romance in 18th Century Edinburgh.

Edinburgh, Yuletide 1743, and Redcoat officer Robert Catto would rather be anywhere else on earth than Scotland. Seconded back from the wars in Europe to captain the city’s Town Guard, he fears his covert mission to assess the strength of the Jacobite threat will force him to confront the past he tries so hard to forget.

Christian Rankeillor, her surgeon-apothecary father and his apprentice Jamie Buchan of Balnamoon are committed supporters of the Stuart Cause. They’re hiding a Jacobite agent with a price on his head in Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, a hanging offence.

Meeting as enemies, Robert and Kirsty are thrown together as allies by the mysterious death of a young prostitute and their desire to help fugitive brother and sister Geordie and Alice Smart. They’re on the run from Cosmo Liddell, bored and brutal aristocrat and coal owner.

As they pick their way through a labyrinth of intrigue, Robert and Kirsty are increasingly drawn to each other. She knows their mutual attraction can go nowhere. He know his duty demands that he must betray her.

Bringing to life a time when Scotland stood at a crossroads in her history, Gathering Storm is the first in a suite of Jacobite novels by Scottish writer Maggie Craig, author of the ground-breaking and acclaimed Damn’ Rebel Bitches: The Women of the ’45.

Let’s talk to Maggie and find out more!

Welcome, Maggie! I know you’ve written novels set in the 1800s and the 1900s, and now Gathering Storm, which opens in 1743. Do you have a favorite period to write about?

My heart belongs to the 18^th century, the Jacobites of 1745 in particular. I find it a fascinating period of history. It was the Age of Reason and the beginning of the Enlightenment, yet men still marched out onto battlefields with swords in their hands. Gender politics were changing too. The relationship between 18^th century men and women was shifting, allowing female characters more leeway in what they said and, to an extent, in how they acted.

What role does your non-fiction research and writing play in your fiction writing?

A huge one. While the main characters in my fiction are always imaginary – or so I think, I’m not always convinced they don’t tap me on the shoulder and insist I write their stories – I like to have them interact with real historical characters. Over years of research, those have become like friends to me. As anyone who reads Gathering Storm will surmise, I’m particularly fond of Duncan Forbes of Culloden, my hero’s mentor.

What inspired you to write Gathering Storm?

It started with the picture of a man’s face on the cover of a magazine. He was quietly handsome but he looked so sad. I put that picture up beside my computer and looked at it for a while, wondering what had made him unhappy. Then I sat down one day and started to free-write and before I knew where I was I was with Captain Robert Catto of the Town Guard of Edinburgh in pursuit of an illegal dissection.

I’m fascinated by some of the details of life in Edinburgh at that time. Were there really “underground” dissections and secret meetings of anatomists taking place at that time?

Absolutely. There was a strong religious objection to dissection because people believed in the resurrection of the body on the Day of Judgement, so you had to be whole for that. Anatomists were allowed to demonstrate dissection on the bodies of convicted felons who had been hanged, but only on a very limited number and only if the relatives did not claim the body. Edinburgh University was at the forefront of medical education in Europe in the 18^th and 19^th centuries and desperately needed more bodies for the students to learn from. That’s why Burke and Hare became active in the 1820s, robbing graves to meet the demand and then cutting out the hard work by simply murdering people. Anatomists paid good money for fresh corpses. Burke and Hare were caught when one medical student recognized the body lying on the slab as being the girl he’d been with the previous night, when she’d been fit and healthy.

You seem to have a great deal of sympathy for the terribly hard lives of the lower classes. What do you think readers would be surprised to know about women’s lives at that time?

I think working-class girls and women could be terribly vulnerable to young gentlemen who saw them as fair game. On a more positive note, readers might be surprised by how many women were active in business, running timber yards, shops and taverns. Sometimes that was because they were widows and had taken over the family business when their husbands died but many seemed to relish the opportunity.

Can you tell us a bit about your background — where you grew up, your family life, and how you became a writer?

I grew up in Glasgow, on the banks of the Clyde, the youngest of four children. My dad worked his way up through the railways to become a station master and we lived in the station house where he loved to tend his garden. He was a great story teller, as was my mother. We travelled all over Scotland on the train to visit relatives and my dad knew the history behind every stone. I learned about William Wallace, Robert the Bruce, Bonnie Prince Charlie, the Radicals of 1820 and the Red Clydesiders of the early 20^th century at a very early age. One of my forebears on my father’s side was Robert Tannahill, the weaver-poet of Paisley. All my family write. We think it’s just what everybody does. I’ve been writing and publishing books for the past 15 years and now live in the north of Scotland with my Welsh husband Will and two cats. We have two lovely grown-up children and an equally lovely daughter-in-law from North Carolina who all live in Edinburgh so we spend a lot of time there.

What do you read for fun? What writers inspire you?

I love Nora Roberts. There’s nothing better in a snowy Scottish winter than reading about fabulously wealthy and beautiful people sipping cocktails in the Californian sunshine. I’ve always been inspired by Robert Louis Stevenson, Robert Burns, Daphne du Maurier and Dorothy L Sayers. I also love Diana Gabaldon, Barbara Erskine, Susanna Kearsley and Ian Rankin.

I understand that Gathering Storm is the first in a planned Jacobite suite of novels. What are you working on now, and what can we expect in this series?

My next book will be The Captain’s Lady, a time slip set between Glasgow and the West Highlands during the 1745 Jacobite Rising. Its main historical protagonist is Meg Wood, who makes a cameo appearance in Gathering Storm. It’s a one-off story. I’m then going back to Robert and Kirsty, to continue telling their story.

Can you give us a hint about what lies in store for Robert and Christian (Kirsty)?

Trouble. Moral dilemmas. Physical danger. The entrance of a bad guy. Oh, and he is so bad. They’re going to have to wade their way through hell and high water but there will be tender moments and wee Geordie Smart will be there too.

Thank you, Maggie, for your time and terrific responses!

Other books by Maggie Craig:

Fiction:
The River Flows On
One Sweet Moment
When the Lights Come On Again
The Stationmaster’s Daughter
The Bird Flies High
A Star To Steer By
The Dancing Days

Non-Fiction:
When the Clyde Ran Red
Bare-Arsed Banditti: The Men of the ’45
Damn’ Rebel Bitches : The Women of the ’45

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My thoughts on Gathering Storm:

I very much enjoyed this historical novel, which focuses on the build-up to the Jacobite rising of 1745 through the lens of a small group of people caught up in intrigue and conspiracies in Edinburgh. Taking place over the course of one very eventful week, Gathering Storm introduces us to both sides of the conflict through the individual characters who take center stage in the novel.

Captain Robert Catto is an enigmatic and conflicted main character, noble and full of purpose, yet also tormented by family secrets and a troubled past. He knows his duty and what he must do, but as he becomes more and more fascinated by Christian, it becomes harder for him to stand firm. Robert is also, it must be said, a man who does tend to give into his baser nature from time to time — so for those looking for the typical dashing, upright hero, Robert’s actions may not be at all what is expected.

Christian (Kirsty) is a strong-willed and intelligent young woman, who perhaps doesn’t realize when it might be best to not take a stand. She’s loyal to family and friends, but absolutely can think for herself and make her own decisions.

Because Gathering Storm takes place in a very compressed amount of time, it often has an intense, almost breathless feel to it, and the emotional connections happen quickly and unexpectedly. The action is quite compelling, and I liked the mix of politics, danger, and personal relationships.

Maggie Craig’s in-depth historical knowledge really shines through, giving Gathering Storm a ring of authenticity and a strong anchor in real events. For anyone interested in Scottish history, or for fans of historical fiction in general, I’d recommend giving Gathering Storm a try.

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The details:

Title: Gathering Storm
Author: Maggie Craig
Publisher: Alligin Books
Publication date: 2013
Genre: Historical fiction
Source: Received from the author

18Dec2013

Thursday Quotables: The Firebird

Posted in Thursday Quotables by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Welcome back to Thursday Quotables! This weekly feature is the place to highlight a great quote, line, or passage discovered during your reading each week. Whether it’s something funny, startling, gut-wrenching, or just really beautifully written, Thursday Quotables is where my favorite lines of the week will be, and you’re invited to join in!

The Firebird by Susanna Kearsley
Sourcebooks Landmark, 2013

“Hi,” he said. He didn’t say the word out loud — there wasn’t any way I would have heard him at that distance — but his voice still resonated clearly in my mind as though he’d spoken. It’s a hard thing to explain to anyone who’s never carried on a conversation that way, but to me it came as naturally as breathing. It was how my grandfather had realized I’d inherited his “gift,” when at the age of three I’d answered him at table, “When I’m sleeping,” and my mother, glancing up, had smiled and asked me what I meant by that, to which I had replied, “Granddad asked me if I ever would stop talking.” I could still see their exchange of glances; still recall the silence that had followed.

I’m about halfway through this lovely book, which combines historical fiction with a contemporary love story and mystery. Susanna Kearsley has quickly become one of my “auto-buy” authors, and The Firebird has me hooked!

Want to know more about The Firebird? Here’s the synopsis via Goodreads:

Nicola Marter was born with a gift: when she touches an object, she sometimes glimpses those who have owned it before. When the gallery she works in receives a wooden carving she can see the object’s history and knows that it was named after the Firebird, the mythical bird that inspires an old Russian fairytale, and was once owned by Russia’s famed Empress Catherine.

Nicola’s investigation into the Firebird’s origin draws her into the 1715 world of Anna Logan and leads her on a quest through Scotland, France and Russia, unearthing a tale of love and sacrifice, of courage and redemption.

What lines made you laugh, cry, or gasp this week? Do tell!

If you’d like to participate in Thursday Quotables, it’s really simple:

Write a Thursday Quotables post on your blog. Try to pick something from whatever you’re reading now. And please be sure to include a link back to Bookshelf Fantasies in your post (http://www.bookshelffantasies.com), if you’d be so kind!
Click below (next to the cute froggy face) to link up your post! And be sure to visit other linked blogs to view their Thursday Quotables too.
Have a quote to share but not a blog post? Leave your quote in the comments.
Have fun!

17Dec2013

Wishing & Waiting on Wednesday

Posted in Wishlist Wednesday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

There’s nothing like a Wednesday for thinking about the books we want to read! My Wishing & Waiting on Wednesday post is linking up with two fabulous book memes, Wishlist Wednesday (hosted by Pen to Paper) and Waiting on Wednesday (hosted by Breaking the Spine).

This week’s pick:

One Plus One by Jojo Moyes
(to be released July 2014)

Synopsis via Goodreads:

One single mom. One chaotic family. One quirky stranger. One irresistible love story from the New York Times bestselling author of Me Before You

American audiences have fallen in love with Jojo Moyes. Ever since she debuted stateside, she has captivated readers and reviewers alike, and hit the New York Times bestseller list with the word-of-mouth sensation, Me Before You. Now, with One Plus One, she’s written another contemporary opposites-attract love story that reads like a modern-day Two for the Road.

Suppose your life sucks. A lot. Your husband has done a vanishing act, your teenage stepson is being bullied and your math whiz daughter has a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that you can’t afford to pay for. That’s Jess’s life in a nutshell—until an unexpected knight-in-shining-armor offers to rescue them. Only Jess’s knight turns out to be Geeky Ed, the obnoxious tech millionaire whose vacation home she happens to clean. But Ed has big problems of his own, and driving the dysfunctional family to the Math Olympiad feels like his first unselfish act in ages . . . maybe ever.

One Plus One is Jojo Moyes at her astounding best. You’ll laugh, you’ll weep, and when you flip the last page, you’ll want to start all over again.

Everybody seemed to be raving about Me Before You by Jojo Moyes when it came out earlier this year… and I’m ashamed to say that I still haven’t read it! I did read The Girl You Left Behind recently (reviewed here in September ), and found both the contemporary and historical storylines to be incredibly moving and well written. One Plus One sounds completely different — but also like it could be quite a lot of fun. I’ve been wanting to read more by Jojo Moyes, and this new one seems like something I’d really enjoy.

What are you wishing for this Wednesday?

Looking for some bookish fun on Thursdays and Fridays? Come join me for my regular weekly features, Thursday Quotables and Flashback Friday! You can find out more here — come share the book love!

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Do you host a book blog meme? Do you participate in a meme that you really, really love? I’m building a Book Blog Meme Directory, and need your help! If you know of a great meme to include — or if you host one yourself — please drop me a note on my Contact page and I’ll be sure to add your info!

16Dec2013

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten New-To-Me Authors I Read In 2013

Posted in Top Ten Tuesday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, featuring a different top 10 theme each week. This week’s topic is Top Ten New-To-Me Authors I Read In 2013. What fun! I “met” so many authors this year for the first time. Here are the best of the bunch:

Note: If you want to know more about any of the books mentioned here, click on the links to see my reviews.

The River of No Return Eleanor & Park The Rosie Project

1) Bee Ridgway: One of my very favorite books of 2013 was Bee Ridgway’s debut novel The River of No Return. It’s time travel plus historical fiction plus secret societies plus mystery plus romance… seriously, just overall excellent and so worth reading! I can’t wait for the sequel!

2) Rainbow Rowell: 2013 seems to have been the year of Rainbow Rowell! Eleanor & Park got everyone’s attention, and then we all gobbled up Attachments and Fangirl as well. Wonderful characters, wonderful writing!

3) Graeme Simsion: The Rosie Project made me so happy! I happened to read this terrific books right in the midst of a bunch of particularly dark reading choices, and I then went on to pretty much force The Rosie Project into the hands of everyone I know.

Wolf Hall (Thomas Cromwell, #1) Bring Up the Bodies (Thomas Cromwell, #2) The Eyre Affair (Thursday Next #1)

4) Hilary Mantel: Call me late to the party, but I’d never made time for Hilary Mantel’s award winning Tudor-era books until I went on vacation this past summer. Wolf Hall and Bring Up The Bodies are simply amazing literary accomplishments. And now I know what all the hoopla was about!

5) Jasper Fforde: Another one of those authors that I always thought I’d enjoy, but just never got around to… until this year! I finally read The Eyre Affair, and thought it was great fun. The Tuesday Next series is definitely one I’ll keep coming back to.

Y: The Last Man, Vol. 1: Unmanned (Y: The Last Man, #1) Saga, Volume 1 Just One Day (Just One Day, #1)

6) Brian K. Vaughan: I’m just in awe. I love this man’s inventiveness and the skill he uses in laying out a complex story through the medium of graphic novels. Y: The Last Man is one of the best series I’ve ever read, and I really enjoyed the first two volumes in his new Saga series as well.

7) Gayle Forman: I loved Just One Day and Just One Year, and now really want to go back and read her earlier books, If I Stay and Where She Went.

Mrs. Queen Takes the Train The Girl You Left Behind The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (Chronicles of Narnia, #1)

8) William Kuhn: Mrs. Queen Takes The Train is a delight. I look forward to whatever he writes next!

9) Jojo Moyes: The Girl You Left Behind was my first Jojo Moyes book, but it certainly won’t be my last! I’ve recently picked up copies of Me Before You and The Last Letter From Your Lover, and can’t wait to read them both.

10) C. S. Lewis: Talk about old school! Finally, I’ve been to Narnia. After a woefully deficient childhood, this was the year when I made up for what I was missing by reading the seven Narnia books with my son. And even though we probably could have skipped the last one, all in all I’d say the series was a big success for both of us.

Which authors did you discover in 2013?

I can’t wait to see who I’ll meet in 2014!

If you enjoyed this post, please consider following Bookshelf Fantasies! And don’t forget to check out our regular weekly features, Thursday Quotables and Flashback Friday. Happy reading!

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16Dec2013

The Monday Agenda 12/16/2013

Posted in The Monday Check-In by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Not a lofty, ambitious to-be-read list consisting of 100+ book titles. Just a simple plan for the upcoming week — what I’m reading now, what I plan to read next, and what I’m hoping to squeeze in among the nooks and crannies.

How did I do with last week’s agenda?

Roomies Gathering Storm The Firebird (Slains, #2)

Roomies by Sara Zarr and Tara Altebrando: Done! My review is here.

Gathering Storm by Maggie Craig: Done! Historical fiction set in Scotland in 1743 — not as “romance-y” as it looks. I’ll have a review posted a bit later in the week.

The Firebird by Susanna Kearsley: Just started — but I’m so excited to finally be reading this one!

Dinosaur Summer by Greg Bear: My son and I are about 80 pages into this science fiction novel, which is a follow-up to the 1912 novel The Lost World by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The early chapters were a bit confusing for both of us, but now the action in Dinosaur Summer is picking up and we’re having a slightly easier time with it. The jury is still out in terms of whether this will ultimately be an enjoyable choice for the kiddo and me — but we’re hanging in there!

Fresh Catch:

No new paper-and-ink books this week — which is a relief, since I’m about to be drowned by my TBR piles! I did pick up a few Kindle titles, taking advantage of holiday season price drops:

The Luminaries The Goldfinch The Knife of Never Letting Go (Chaos Walking, #1) After the Golden Age (Golden Age, #1)

What’s on my reading agenda for the coming week?

The Firebird (Slains, #2) Dear Mr. Knightley The Promise of Amazing

The Firebird by Susanna Kearsley: I’ve only just begun… so I expect this novel will take up most of my reading time this week.

BUT… if I’m able, then I’ll plan to start two ARCs that are in my queue for December:

Dear Mr. Knightley by Katherin Reay

The Promise of Amazing by Robin Constantine

So many book, so little time…

That’s my agenda. What’s yours? Add your comments to share your bookish agenda for the week.

14Dec2013

Book Review: Roomies by Sara Zarr & Tara Altebrando

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Book Review: Roomies by Sara Zarr & Tara Altebrando

Roomies

Before I dig into my review of Roomies, a personal aside. And if you’re not interested in my rambling thoughts of yesteryear, jump ahead two paragraphs! Really, I won’t mind.

It seems like eons ago that I received my freshman roommate assignment from campus housing, way back when as I was graduating from high school and looking forward to the next chapter in my life. My roomie-to-be had a name that made me think of someone upbeat and friendly: Juliet, from somewhere in Pennsylvania. We exchanged brief letters (I found out she preferred to go by Julie), and it seemed like we’d hit it off, or at the very least, like each other enough to live together successfully.

But then, a few weeks later, another letter: Julie and her friend from home had decided to live together after all. Bummer. I was then assigned a new roommate, Joanne from Brooklyn, daughter of a cardiologist, who spent most of her initial letter to me telling me all about her boyfriend Henry (but call him Henri), who was gorgeous and a model. Uh oh. Alarm bells ringing. And for good reason: the term “roommate from hell” could have been coined especially for Joanne. I won’t bore you with the agony of a year’s worth of horrible incidents. And to add insult to injury, I later met my almost-roommate Julie in chemistry class, and she was sweet as could be. Meanwhile, the best thing I can say about Joanne is that she was so despicable that I spent almost zero time in my dorm room, which led to my becoming close with someone in the next dorm, who in turn introduced me to another of her friends… and those two became lifelong friends of mine. So, happy outcome, I suppose, but still… drama! Freshman year turmoil! Dorm dismay!

It’s been a long time since I thought about the saga of Julie and Joanne — but it all came back to me in vivid color as soon as I started reading Roomies.

In this delightful new young adult novel, two girls from opposite worlds meet through the magic of the UC Berkeley housing office. Over the course of the summer between high school and college, Elizabeth and Lauren get to know each other through emails, exchanging greetings tentatively at first and slowly building up trust and connection until they’re practically soulmates — but is it real? How much can you really get to know someone by way of a computer screen? How do you know what someone’s like if you’ve never met them, never even heard their voice?

From the outset, the girls seem too dissimilar to seem likely as friends. Elizabeth is a middle class girl from New Jersey, who loves the beach, loves gardening, has a boyfriend she’s not crazy about, and has lived alone with her mom ever since her dad came out and moved (stereotype of stereotypes) to San Francisco. Now EB, as she’s known to her friends, is left counting the days until she sets off on her big move cross-country, dealing with her unable-to-face-reality mom and wishing she weren’t so alone. Lauren, on the other hand, is never alone. Lauren has five younger siblings, all under the age of six, and this huge mess of a family lives in a cramped house in San Francisco, always tight on money, always chaotic. Lauren works two jobs and got a full scholarship to Berkeley to study biochem, and dreams of having quiet time to herself. She did not want a roommate at all, and is not best pleased to hear from EB (whom she thinks of as Ebb) with a “hi, roomie!” email.

Told in alternating chapters and with alternating voices, Roomies takes us along for the ride as Lauren and Elizabeth slowly open up to one another while dealing with the myriad of challenges, frustrations, joys, and sorrows of the eventful summer between high school and college. Both girls navigate a relationship with a hometown best friend, unsure of how that friendship will change or even if it will last. And both girls find romance when least expected, only further complicating the delicate and difficult business of saying good-bye to home and childhood and moving into the next phase of their lives.

The summer navigated in Roomies is wonderful in many ways, but each girl faces her own set of worries and doubts as the college days loom. Will she be able to stand on her own feet? Will the family left behind manage without her? How will she know she’s ready? And what if she’s not?

He leads me out the other side of the house, and there is something about his pulling me forward that feels so incredible. Because I wish that I were being guided a bit more through life, that I didn’t always feel as if I were drifting, like an untied balloon that someone didn’t even realize was slipping away.

The writing is terrific and genuine. I was completely convinced that I was getting to know two very different girls, and I appreciated how the authors made each voice unique and recognizable. Using the motif of first-person narration punctuated by emails, each chapter gives us a view into the girls’ inner lives and deepest thoughts. The email is a brilliant device for showing just how easy it is to misunderstand, and how imperfect a medium the written word can be. Throughout the summer, each girl misinterprets the emails of the other, so as they take baby steps forward in their relationship, a simple phrase or comment can start a chain reaction of anger or hurt. How could she say that? Why would she rub her happiness in my face? Why doesn’t she sympathize? Why is it all about her? Each girl writes with the best of intentions, but as the move-in date nears, their communication spirals out of control, with hurt layered upon hurt, until each is left to contemplate requesting a rooming reassignment before they even get to Berkeley.

Little details really work. While Lauren and Elizabeth each embark on a new and exciting romance, this isn’t a glossy, fake ultra-swoony story. Even in the midst of describing a romantic moment, we’re reminded that teen moments are often snuck into the most awkward of places:

I snuggle against Keyon, with the emergency brake in my lower ribs, and we’re quiet a long time.

Sweet? Yes. Kind of uncomfortable, too, and isn’t that how it usually works?

Lauren and Elizabeth each work through their personal baggage, their family issues, their expectations, their fears. They correspond, they fight, they reconcile, and by the end of the summer, it’s time. Time to leave home, time to figure out to to hold on while at the same time marching forward. There’s a lovely moment that really encapsulates the conflicting urges to stay where it’s comfortable and familiar and to rush forward into a new exciting chapter:

…[W]e go to a booth for tickets, queue up with some others, and then find two swings side by side, close enough where we can hold hands. I kick off my flip-flops and in a minute we’re spinning. We start slowly, going round and round, but I can feel it, somewhere deep in my gut, when some new force starts to propel us out into the sky. Mark and I hold hands as long as we can but then the force is too strong and he laughs and I scream and we have no choice but to let go.

Roomies succeeds on so many levels — as a story of the beginning of a friendship, a look at family and all the different types of bonds that can exist, and an exploration of that big step from childhood to adulthood. Anyone who has ever left home to embark on a new adventure will be able to relate to the mingled excitement and fear. I’d consider this a great book for young adults approaching their own journeys, as well as for adults who made that transition themselves, whether recently or far in the past — or even from the perspective of a parent trying to support their own children as they find their way.

For myself, reading Roomies made me think of my own semi-disastrous entry into my college life — and remember how even the worst of situations ultimately led to incredibly wonderful experiences. Seeing Lauren and Elizabeth and their messy, sometimes awful and sometimes spectacular journey, I wanted to tell them to just hang in there. It’s all a part of growing up, and as Roomies illustrates so well, endings and beginnings can both contain truly amazing moments.

_________________________________________

The details:

Title: Roomies
Author: Sara Zarr & Tara Altebrando
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication date: To be released December 24, 2013
Genre: Young adult
Source: Review copy courtesy of Little, Brown via NetGalley

12Dec2013

Flashback Friday: Last Chance To See

Posted in Flashback Friday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

NOTE: Flashback Friday will be taking a little pause over the holidays! Look for my next Flashback Friday post on Friday, January 10th.

Flashback Friday is my own little weekly tradition, in which I pick a book from my reading past to highlight — and you’re invited to join in!

Here are the Flashback Friday book selection guidelines:

Has to be something you’ve read yourself
Has to still be available, preferably still in print
Must have been originally published 5 or more years ago

Other than that, the sky’s the limit! Join me, please, and let us all know: what are the books you’ve read that you always rave about? What books from your past do you wish EVERYONE would read? Pick something from five years ago, or go all the way back to the Canterbury Tales if you want. It’s Flashback Friday time!

My Flashback Friday for this week:

Last Chance To See
by Douglas Adams and Mark Carwardine
(published 1990)

Synopsis (Amazon):

Join bestselling author Douglas Adams and zoologist Mark Carwardine as they take off around the world in search of exotic, endangered creatures. Hilarious and poignant – as only Douglas Adams can be – LAST CHANCE TO SEE is an entertaining and arresting odyssey through the Earth’s magnificent wildlife galaxy.

I am so glad that I stumbled cross this non-fiction book by the extraordinary Douglas Adams a couple of years ago. We all know and love Douglas Adams for his incredibly inventive and humorous works of fiction (I mean, does anyone NOT like The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy??), but this work of non-fiction is just as funny and entertaining, even in its more serious moments and while delivering not terribly optimistic messages about the fate of the natural world.

The book Last Chance To See grew out of a BBC production in which Douglas Adams traveled with zoologist Mark Carwardine to all sorts of far-flung points around the globe. Their goal was to see, understand, and document the plight of animals so endangered as to be all but assured of extinction. Among the animals visited were komodo dragons, northern white rhinoceroses, mountain gorillas, and more. In each instance, Adams describes the plight of the species and how they got to that point, what’s being done to protect them, and what the future may hold.

It’s often a sad journey, but with Adams’s quirky and wonderful writing, Last Chance To See manages to entertain and challenge the reader. It’s witty, it’s gritty, and it’s just a pleasure to read. I highly recommend Last Chance To See for anyone who enjoys Douglas Adams, as well as for anyone who’d like a fresh take on humanity’s footprint on the animal kingdom and its habitats.

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

12Dec2013

Books, Bribery, & the Boy

Posted in The Reading Life by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

I may have mentioned a time or two (or a hundred or so) that my son is an oh-so-reluctant reader. At age 11, he’s funny, bright, curious, adventurous, barrels of fun… and just will not pick up a book on his own.

He loves stories. In fact, despite being in middle school now and therefore exponentially cooler than he was a mere six months ago, he’s not too cool for a bedtime story with dear old mom. We’re no longer reading picture books, of course. Last year, our read-alouds centered around the entire Harry Potter series. This year, we’ve read The Hobbit, the Narnia books, and Carl Hiaasen, plus a bit of sci-fi for fun.

But still, he will not read. As he’s pointed out to me numerous times, “Mom, I can read. I just don’t want to.” For a very brief while, I had some success in getting him to read on my IPad, since anything with a shiny screen is kind of like crack to my kid. But even that charm wore off, and it’s been months since I’ve been able to get him interested. And an actual book, made of paper and containing pages filled with words? Forget it.

He’s doing just fine in school — surprisingly well, actually, for a kid who insists his favorite class at school is PE — and this year has been forced to step up his study habits quite a bit. He’s on top of the reading assignments in his language arts textbook, but this month, for the first time, the teacher gave the class some firm orders about outside reading. Up to now, they’ve had silent reading time in the classroom. This month, they each had to pick a book at the library, minimum 200 pages, read it on their own time, and write a brief summary for each chapter.

My kiddo procrastinated, as usual. The assignment was due today. As of Monday, he’d read about 100 pages out of 280. Between Tuesday and Wednesday, he managed to finish reading the book and writing up the chapter summaries.

Miracle of miracles, he said that the book was “pretty good” — which from his mouth is a total rave. With poking and prodding, he admitted that it was fun, that he enjoyed it, and that he’d even be willing to read more books like that.

(For the record, the book he just read is Lenny Cyrus, School Virus by Joe Schreiber.)

So where does bribery figure into all of this?

Well, after last night’s marathon reading session, I had a brainstorm:

The kid CAN read. And he even ENJOYS reading while he’s doing it. So what’s missing? MOTIVATION.

I can’t believe I’m even thinking this way, but here goes:

I’m willing to bribe my kid, if necessary, because I firmly believe that the more he reads, he more he’ll love reading. Ultimately, if he spends more time with books, does it matter how he got there? Here’s the scheme I devised: For every book over 200 pages that he finishes, he’ll get $10. For a book that’s under 200 pages, he’ll get $5 — so if he wants to read a bunch of shorter books, that’s okay; there will still be a reward at the end. To qualify for his reading reward, he’ll have to be able to demonstrate comprehension. No written assignments — talk about a buzz kill! — but he’ll at least have to explain to me, to my satisfaction, what the book was about and what he thought about it.

If you’d asked me, oh, ten years or so ago, if I’d ever considering paying a kid to read, I would have been horrified at the mere suggestion! Probably some really obnoxious eye-rolling or sneering tones of voice would have ensued. I was, after all, blessed with an older child who is as big a reading fanatic as I am. Why should money be involved? Reading is its own reward! … I would have said, from way atop my high horse.

But faced with the cold, hard reality of a kid who WILL NOT READ, I’m willing to come back down to earth and face facts, and the facts are these: If I don’t find some way to get the kiddo to WANT to read, he won’t read. And that, to me, is a much worse outcome than having a kid who expects some sort of financial reward for finishing a book.

So… thoughts? Am I a horrible human being? A terrible mother? Or a woman with a brilliant plan? An evil genius?

We shall see how it all works out. I’ll report back on books read and money paid…

Meanwhile, I’d love to know: Have you ever used a reward system to get a kid to read? And is my resorting to bribery a sign of the coming apocalypse? Inquiring minds want to know.