Sunday Salon: All That Rain and Blooms Too

Welcome to the Sunday Salon!This post lists new books and links up to It's Monday; What Are You Reading? at Book Journey;  to Mailbox Monday hosted by Dolce Bellezza; and to Stacking the Shelves by Tynga's Reviews.

It's been busy the past month or two with book tours of novels I couldn't resist accepting. Last week I reviewed The Wonder Bread Summer, contemporary comic fiction by Jessica Anya Blau; and Running with the Enemy, a novel set in Vietnam by Lloyd Lofthouse. There are more book tours coming up too!

I received two review books in the mail and one book win:

The Lavender Garden by Lucinda Riley

The Wife, the Maid and the Mistress

Oak and Dagger by Dorothy St. James

I liked Lucinda Riley's previous novel, Girl on the Cliff, and other books by Dorothy St. James, who writes the White House Gardener Mysteries. Ariel Lawton's book is a new historical mystery set in the 1930s. Can't wait to read them all!

I also borrowed two books from the library: Paprika by Yasutka Tsutsui, considered his masterpiece involving a surreal, dream-invading device. Also, Hiikomori and the Rental Sister by Jeff Backhaus, a novel about an erotic relationship between an American and a "rental sister." The concept of a rental sister is intriguing.

The Tsutsui book I hope to add to my reads for the Japanese Literature Challenge 7 hosted by Dolce Bellezza. The popular challenge runs now through January 30, 2014 and several bloggers have already signed up for the seventh season.

There has been steady drizzling of rain the past few days and all the roses are out, all at once! I cut a bunch for a vase this morning as a bush was weighted down by blooms and by water. I can't complain though, the roses are blooming like never before!

I am reading a few books all at once. How often does that happen to you?

Book Review: Running With the Enemy by Lloyd Lofthouse

"Then Wat Po, the Temple of the Reclining Buddha came into sight, and she saw Wat Arun, Temple of the Dawn, on the other side of the river. Even after the year in France and Vietnam, Tuyen still recognized the beauty of The City of Angels (Bangkok). (ch. 17)

Title: Running With the Enemy: A Novel by Lloyd Lofthouse
Publisher: Three Clover Press (February 1, 2013)
Genre: Vietnam War, historical fiction, suspense

Lloyd Lofthouse describes his book Running with the Enemy as a memoir that evolved into fiction. As a Vietnam veteran who had seen and experienced enough to leave him with post traumatic stress disorder, he wrote this book it seems to come to terms with all he experienced in Vietnam. The book became fiction, an action novel with a strong romance component.

Overall it rings true of war and what it was like to serve in Vietnam. Much of the book details the fighting, the casualties and the heartbreak and the trauma experienced by the soldiers. The book also takes you on a dizzying journey when the lovers Tuyen and Ethan flee to other countries in Southeast Asia - Laos, Cambodia, Bangkok, Thailand ,and Burma (Myanmar).

For those who would like to get a sense of what combat was really like, this is an excellent book, which began as a memoir of Vietnam.

Publisher's description:
In this suspense thriller set during the Vietnam War, Victor Ortega is a rogue CIA agent, and he needs someone to blame for his crimes. Recon Marine Ethan Card is the perfect patsy.

When Ethan discovers he is going to be court marshaled for weapons he did not sell to the Viet Cong and his secret lover, a beautiful half-Vietnamese and half-French woman, Tuyen, will be arrested, he hijacks a U.S. Army helicopter and flees with Tuyen across Southeast Asia while struggling to prove his innocence. Victor Ortega and Giap—working together with the support of an unwitting American general—hunt them down.

 The star-crossed lovers travel across Laos to Cambodia’s Angkor Wat; to Bangkok, Thailand, and then to Burma’s Golden Triangle where Ethan and Tuyen face a ruthless drug lord and his gang. In the rainforests of Burma, Ethan also discovers Ortega and Giap have set in motion a massive assault on his Marine unit’s remote base in South Vietnam with the goal of killing the man he admires most, Colonel Edward Price, who is the only one who believes Ethan is innocent. Ethan must risk everything to save Price and his fellow Marines. Will he succeed?

About the author: Lloyd Lofthouse, a former U.S. Marine and Vietnam veteran, served in Vietnam as a field radio operator in 1966. Back home, Lloyd never talked about the war and suffered from PTSD. In the early 1980s, he confronted his demons by writing about his war experiences in an MFA program. Lloyd earned a BA in journalism, and then worked as a public school teacher and as a maître d’.

 Running with the Enemy started as a memoir and then evolved into fiction. His short story, A Night at the “Well of Purity”, named a finalist of the 2007 Chicago Literary Awards, was based on an event Lloyd experienced in Vietnam. His first novel My Splendid Concubine has earned ten honorable mentions in general fiction. He is married to the author Anchee Min.

Visit Lloyd's website: http://lloydlofthouse.org Twitter: https://twitter.com/lflwriter
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lloyd.lofthouse.
Visit the tour schedule for more reviews.

Thanks to Premier Virtual Author Book Tours and the author for a review copy of this book.
Submitted to the 2013 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge

The Japanese Literature Challenge 7

I am joining the Japanese Literature Challenge 7 hosted by Dolce Bellezza.
It runs from June 1 through January 30, 2014;  the challenges have been very popular. The link above will take you to a sign up post and suggested books for reading. This year, children's books and manga, short stories, and poetry will be included.

My first book for the challenge? To finish reading The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, which I started some time ago. I hope to include some children's books and poetry this year.

My planned readings so far:

1. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami, literary fiction
2. Evil and the Mask by Fuminori Nakamura, thriller
3. Paprika by Yasutaka Tsutsui, sci-fi


What I have actually read for the challenge so far: 

1. A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki, fiction
2. Evil and the Mask by Fuminori Nakamura, thriller


What Japanese novels or books have you read or hope to read?

Book Review: The Wonder Bread Summer by Jessica Anya Blau

Title: The Wonder Bread Summer: A Novel by Jessica Anya Blau
Published May 28, 2013; Harper Perennial paperback
Genre: fiction, comic novel

Publisher description: It’s 1983 in Berkeley, California. Twenty-year-old Allie Dodgson is a straitlaced college student working part-time at a dress shop to make ends meet. But when the shop turns out to be a front for a dangerous drug-dealing business, Allie finds herself on the lam, speeding toward Los Angeles in her best friend’s Prelude with a Wonder Bread bag full of cocaine riding shotgun and a hit man named Vice Versa on her tail.

My comments: I had fun reading this book and getting caught up in Allie's missteps and adventures that come about because of her extreme naivete in spite of being a twenty-year-old student at the U of California Berkeley. Allie reacts like a high school student to the problems and people she faces, and only in the end does she get some insight into her life and into what drives her.

But her naivete is what makes the book so much fun. Allie travels from Berkeley to Los Angeles in her friend's car, avoiding her pursuers who want the plastic Wonder Bread bag full of pure cocaine that Allie has in the car with her. In fact, she carries it around like a bag of bread and at one point loses it to a few of the people she trusts. Allie does her best to get the bag back to its owner, her former boss at the dress shop, so that he can call off her pursuers and leave her alone, finally. But things happen to get in the way of her simple plan...

Recommendation: A very enjoyable summer read. I like the author's sense of humor and her zany characters.

Jessica Anya Blau is the author of the national bestselling novel The Summer of Naked Swim Parties and the critically acclaimed Drinking Closer to Home. Link up to the author's website, Facebook page, and Twitter account.

Thanks to TLC Book Tours and the publisher for a review galley of this book. For more reviews, see the book's tour schedule.

Sunday Salon: A Quiet Weekend

Welcome to the Sunday Salon! I have found some really good books to read, one of them A Half Forgotten Song by Katherine Webb, set in Dorset and London. So, I'm reading this sunny weekend, gardening, enjoying my backyard, and taking walks. I'm not in the mood for crowds or long trips due to a bum hip!

I am also thinking about a book I should write ....

This post lists new books and links up to It's Monday; What Are You Reading? at Book Journey;  to Mailbox Monday hosted by Abi at 4 the LOVE of BOOKS; and to Stacking the Shelves by Tynga's Reviews.

For two upcoming book tours, I've finished reading two very different books: The Wonder Bread Summer by Jessica Anya Blau, a crazy but wonderful coming of age novel (May 28) and Running with the Enemy by Lloyd Lofthouse, a novel of war and romance (May 31). I also finished reading a cute cozy, Mayhem at the Orient Express by Kylie Logan.

On my reading shelves are new uncorrected proofs :
Summer Death: A Thriller by Mons Kallentoft
Second Watch by J.A. Jance
The Whole Enchilada by Diane Mott Davidson

The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty

The Illusion of Separateness by Simon Van Booy

and two review books from the publishers:

The River of No Return by Bee Ridgway.... a nice surprise
The Fountain of St. James Court by Sena Jeter Naslund

I've read Jance, Mott Davidson and Moriarty before, and know I'll like their new books. The others will be a nice surprise.

What are you doing or reading this Memorial Day weekend?

Book Review: The Christie Curse by Victoria Abbott

Title: The Christie Curse: A Book Collector Mystery by Victoria Abbott
Published March 5, 2013; Berkely paperback
Genre: mystery, cozy mystery

When I look at cozies, there are certain themes that will make me gravitate to the books right away: books, flowers or gardens, pets, bird watching, and of course, food. I liked the pug on the cover of this book and the series title, a Book Collector's Mystery.

Jordan Bingham of Harrison Falls, New York, comes from a family with sticky fingers and questionable ethics. Her uncles have taught her tricks like lock picking, self defense, and how to be street smart. After college, she is looking for a job that is on the up and up and agrees to be the live-in employee for an eccentric but wealthy book collector, Vera Van Alst.

Vera wants Jordan to investigate a rumor of an unpublished Agatha Christie play. She is willing to pay a lot of money to buy this collector's item.

I spent the rest of the afternoon plowing through my stack of research material on Agatha Christie, her disappearance and her plays. I worked undisturbed for hours, if you don't count Signora Panetone arriving with ... prosciutto, melon and fresh Parmigiano-Reggiano. (ch. 6)

There are risks to the job: Jordan's predecessor Alex was killed when he fell or was pushed in front of a train, and a woman is attacked and left for dead after a book show. But Jordan keeps her job as she loves her new digs in Vera's mansion: her rooms decorated with old cabbage rose wallpaper, its spectacular view of the grounds, and the gourmet meals and snacks that the cook insists she eat every day. The only drawback in Jordan's mind is the bipolar Siamese cat who is loving one day and on the next doesn't miss a chance to use its sharp claws on Jordan's ankles.

This is a new series; there is humor, interesting dialogue, and a main character who is easy to like. The writing style of the author and the plot makes the cozy a pleasant reading trip. I am looking forward to the next in the series.

I received a complimentary review copy of this book.
Submitted to Saturday Review of Books hosted by Semicolon. 

Book Review: The Gods of Heavenly Punishment by Jennifer Cody Epstein

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Title: The Gods of Heavenly Punishment by Jennifer Cody Epstein
Published March 11, 2013. W.W. Norton and Company
Genre: historical novel

My summary: This is a novel about the war between the Japanese and the Americans in WWII, the atrocities of war on both sides, and the innocent families and people affected both in the U.S. and in Japan. The fire bombing of the city of Tokyo in 1945 when innocent civilians were killed or maimed is the reason for the title, The Gods of Heavenly Punishment.  

My comments: I was confused while reading the book. I didn't know whether I should hate the Japanese for their war atrocities and killing downed American pilots during the war or hate the Americans for killing and maiming 100,000 innocent civilians in the later firebombing of Tokyo.

The book presents multiple points of view. We grow to detest a Japanese war criminal at the same time as we like his young daughter Yoshi and feel sorrow for his wife. We are dismayed at the execution of a young American pilot by Japanese troops in Manchuria and we feel pity for his wife. We are also appalled at the suffering and the death of civilians during the firebombing of Tokyo by American planes. At the end of the book, however, the various threads of the story are woven together and Yoshi makes a gesture of contrition to the wife of the American pilot killed during the war.

It is not an easy book to read. It is depressing in parts because the circumstances of war and the horrific effects on the people involved. Kudos to Jennifer Cody Epstein for tackling this subject and bringing all the elements together in a question of whether war justifies all actions. The book makes us think about the justification for killing innocents during war with its quote from one of the characters: "It's not murder! It's war."

For other reviews, visit Gods of Heavenly Punishment: TLC Virtual Book Tours

Publisher's description: A lush, exquisitely-rendered meditation on war, The God of Heavenly Punishment tells the story of several families, American and Japanese, their loves and infidelities, their dreams and losses, and how they are all connected by one of the most devastating acts of war in human history.

Jennifer Cody Epstein is also author of the international bestseller The Painter from Shanghai. She has written for The Wall Street Journal, The Asian Wall Street Journal, Self, Mademoiselle and NBC, and has worked in Hong Kong, Japan and Bangkok, Thailand. Jennifer lives in Brooklyn, NY with her husband, two daughters and especially needy Springer Spaniel. To connect with Jennifer, “like” her on Facebook.

Thanks to TLC Book Tours and the publisher for a review copy of this book.
Submitted to the 2013 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge and Cym Lowell's Book Review Link-Up Party and Saturday Review of Books hosted by Semicolon.