Book Beginning: THE ART OF MEMOIR by Mary Karr

The Friday 56: *Grab a book, turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader. Find any sentence, (or few, just don't spoil it) that grabs you. Post it. Add your (url) post in Linky at Freda's Voice.
Also, visit Book Beginning at Rose City Reader.

The Art of Memoir by Mary Karr, published September 2015 by Harper
Genre: nonfiction

Book beginning, Ch. 1, The Past's Vigor

At unexpected points in life, everyone gets waylaid by the colossal force of recollection. One minute you're a grown-ass woman, then a whiff of cumin conjures your dad's curry, and a whole door to the past blows open, ushering an uncanny detail. There are traumatic memories that ride u unbidden and dwarf you where you stand. But there are also memories you dig for: you start with a clear fix on a tiny instant, and pick at every knot until a thin thread comes undone that you can follow back through the mind's labyrinth to other places. We''ve all interrogated ourselves -- It couldn't have been Christmas because we had shorts on in the snapshot. Such memories start by being figured out, but the useful ones eventually gain enough traction to haul you through the past. 

Page 56:

Trying to catalogue Nabakov's talents would take a library, and yet not to call out Speak, Memory in a book about memoir would be like Fourth of July sans fireworks. 

In The Art of Memoir, Mary Karr synthesizes her expertise as professor and therapy patient, writer and spiritual seeker, recovered alcoholic and “black belt sinner,” providing a unique window into the mechanics and art of the form that is as irreverent, insightful, and entertaining as her own work in the genre. (publisher)

I loved this book, and even started writing, inspired by its concepts and straightforward advice.

Book Review/Tour: The Sisters of Versailles by Sally Christie

The Sisters of Versailles by Sally Christie, published September 1, 2015 by Atria Books
Genre: historical fiction

Book description: Carefully researched and detailed, The Sisters of Versailles is the first book in an historical fiction trilogy about King Louis XV, France’s most “well-beloved” monarch, and the women who shared his heart and his bed. The Sisters of Versailles centers on the (relatively, at least for the genre) overlooked period of early 18th century France. 

The reign of Louis XV (1715 – 1774) a time of increasing social turbulence and change that sets the stage neatly for the French Revolution that follows. The Sisters of Versailles is the extraordinary tale of the five Nesle sisters—Louise, Pauline, Diane, Hortense, and Marie-Anne—four of whom became mistresses to King Louis XV. Their scandalous story is stranger than fiction but true in every shocking, amusing, and heartbreaking detail.

Court intriguers are beginning to sense that young King Louis XV, after seven years of marriage, is tiring of his Polish wife. The race is on to find a mistress for the royal bed as various factions put their best foot—and women—forward. The King’s scheming ministers push Louise, the eldest of the aristocratic Nesle sisters, into the arms of the King. Over the following decade, the four sisters—sweet, naïve Louise; ambitious Pauline; complacent Diane, and cunning Marie Anne—will conspire, betray, suffer, and triumph in a desperate fight for both love and power.

Telling the story of a group of women never before written about in English, Sally Christie’s stunning debut is a complex exploration of power and sisterhood—of the admiration, competition, and even hatred that can coexist within a family when the stakes are high enough. (publisher)

My comments: Reading about the four sisters who were enticed, cajoled or manipulated into becoming their king's mistresses in 18th century France was not a glamorous or exciting read for me. I was distressed at the history of these women and disturbed by the machinations of the people at court who seemed to control both king and the people around him.

Kudos to Sally Christie for her intricate research and for bringing these women in history to light. They were not total victims, but seemed to participate vigorously in the whole elaborate process.  It does help us to understand  how social and political conditions led up to the French Revolution that was to come.

Thanks to TLC Book Tours and the publisher for a review ARC of this book. For other reviews of The Sisters of Versailles, visit the tour schedule. 

Sally Christie was born in England of British parents but grew up mostly in Canada. As a child she moved around with her family and then continued her wandering as she pursued a career in international development; she’s lived in 14 different countries and worked in many more. She’s now settled in Toronto and loving it.

Sally lives and breathes history; ever since she read Antonia Fraser’s masterful Mary, Queen of Scots when she was 10, she’s been an avid history junkie. She wishes more attention and technical innovation was devoted to time travel, because there is nothing she would rather do than travel back in time! Writing historical fiction is a poor substitute, but it’s the best one we have at the moment.

When not reading and writing history, she’s a tennis and Scrabble fanatic.

Book Feature and Giveaway: THE GILDED HOUR by Sara Donati

First Chapter, First Paragraph is hosted weekly by Bibliophile by the Sea. Share the first paragraph of your current read.

The Gilded Hour by Sara Donati, published September 1, 2015 by Berkley....

First paragraph, first chapter:

Early on a March morning on the cusp of spring, Anna Savard came in from the garden to find a young woman with a message that would test her patience, disrupt her day, and send her off on an unexpected journey: a harbinger of change wearing the nursing habit of the Sisters of Charity, standing in the middle of the kitchen.

Book description:

"... a remarkable epic about two female doctors in nineteenth-century New York and the transcendent power of courage and love.
The year is 1883 in New York City, a time of dizzying splendor, crushing poverty, and tremendous change. With the gravity-defying Brooklyn Bridge nearly complete and New York in the grips of anti-vice crusader Anthony Comstock, Anna Savard and her cousin Sophie—both graduates of the Woman’s Medical School—treat the city’s most vulnerable.

Anna's work has placed her in the path of four children who have lost everything. For Sophie, an obstetrician and the orphaned daughter of free people of color, helping a desperate young mother ...thrusts her and Anna into the orbit of Anthony Comstock, a dangerous man who considers himself the enemy of everything indecent and of anyone who dares to defy him.
With its vivid depictions of old New York and its appealing characters, The Gilded Hour is an emotionally gripping novel by the author of Into the Wilderness." (goodreads)

BOOK GIVEAWAY 
The publisher is offering a copy of the book to a U.S. resident in a giveaway on this blog.
To enter, please email Harvee Lau at harvee44@yahoo.com by September 5, 2015, with the heading GILDED GIVEAWAY. 

A winner will be chosen at random and notified by email on Sept. 6 with a request to forward a mailing address. A new winner will be chosen on Sept. 8 if there is no reply. Good luck!

Sunday Salon: A Variety of Books

Welcome to the Sunday Salon where bloggers share their reading each week. Visit The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also visit Mailbox Monday.

I missed the giant moon last night, though we saw it Friday night. It's overcast here. Hope you got a chance to see it.

Got a few new books and proofs 

Two Dogs and a Parrot by Joan Chittister, published by BlueBridge

Crooked River by Valerie Geary, published by William Morrow Paperbacks

Embracing the Seasons: Memories of a Country Garden by Gunilla Norris, published by BlueBridge

The Gilded Hour by Sara Donati, published by Berkley....two female doctors in nineteenth-century New York and the transcendent power of courage and love…

Murder in Megara by Mary Reed and Eric Mayer, Poisoned Pen Press

Everyone Has Their Reasons by Joseph Matthews, PM Press

Nondual, audio CD of music by Kirtan Rabbi (artist)

What's on your reading desk this end of August?

Book Beginning: THE INVISIBLES by Cecilia Galante

The Friday 56: *Grab a book, turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader. Find any sentence, (or few, just don't spoil it) that grabs you. Post it. Add your (url) post in Linky at Freda's Voice.
Also, visit Book Beginning at Rose City Reader.

The Invisibles: A Novel by Cecilia Galante, published August 4, 2015 by William Morrow Paperbacks; women's fiction
 Book beginning, chapter one:

It wasn't until she reached the corner of Grove Street, where the sidewalk buckled and the pre-dawn smells of yeast and fabric softener perfumed the air, that Nora remembered it was her thirty-second birthday. She stopped abruptly, as if someone had yanked a leash around her neck, and let the information settle along her shoulders. Thirty-two. The number rolled around in her head, and she waited for the onslaught of-- what was it exactly: relief? dread?-- that was supposed to arrive at reaching the end of another year, but it didn't come. Instead, the first line from a book she had once read occurred to her: "Once upon a time, there was a woman who discovered she had turned into the wrong person"....

 Book description: ... the complicated and powerful bonds of female friendship. Thrown together as teenagers at Turning Winds Home for Girls, Nora, Ozzie, Monica, and Grace quickly bond over their troubled pasts and form their own family which they dub The Invisibles. But when tragedy strikes after graduation, Nora is left to deal with the horrifying aftermath alone as the other three girls leave home and don't look back.

Fourteen years later, Nora is living a quiet, single life working in the local library. She joins The Invisibles in Chicago for a reunion that sets off an extraordinary chain of events that will change each of their lives forever.

page 56: "We go around the circle, and everyone tells the rest of the group what they want. It can be anything, as long as it's not totally ridiculous, like a million dollars or something. And then, before the next meeting, we'll try to find a way to give it to you."

Looks like a compelling read. Looking forward to reading this one, sent by the publisher.

Book Review: Tahoe Blue Fire by Todd Borg

First Chapter, First Paragraph is hosted weekly by Bibliophile by the Sea. Share the first paragraph of your current read. Also visit Teaser Tuesdays meme hosted by Jenn.

Tahoe Blue Fire: An Owen Mckenna Mystery Thriller #13 by Todd Borg, published August 1, 2015 by Thriller Press.

First paragraph:

PROLOGUE The big rotary snowblower was parked in the dark at the side of the road where the shoulder had been cleared of snow. The unusual snow removal machine was one of the huge ones, built on a double engine chassis, designed for clearing highways. The driver engine was idling quietly despite its size. The much larger blower engine was off. Because that engine made so much noise, the operator would fire it up at the last minute.  

Three kills. Maybe four or five.

Teaser, first chapter:

"It would be too dangerous for me to come to your office," the woman on the phone said. She had told me her name was Scarlett Milo and that she'd wanted to meet and that she was in significant danger. 

My comments:  
Another in the Owen McKenna Mystery thriller series that I have enjoyed so much. The author always includes some pressing and important social issues in his novels, and this one is no exception.
An important part of the plot is the issue of football head injuries and memory loss suffered by many retired professional football players.

The author also touts Lake Tahoe and environs, highlighting its lakes, mountains, ski resorts, as part of the charm of the surroundings. These surroundings of course play a large part in the suspense, chases, and atmosphere of the novels.

In Tahoe Blue Fire, a woman is shot on the deck of her mountain home, a house is burned down, and Owen McKenna, PI, is targeted more than once in attempts to stop his investigations of several recent murders, some of them by shooting and others more bizarre. The motives for crime are somehow tied up to a Renaissance legend. Owen travels to Florence and Tuscany, Italy to get information from Renaissance scholars about the legend of the Blue Fire of Florence, to see how this might link to the Tahoe murders.

Suspenseful as always, and very atmospheric, this is another excellent thriller by Todd Borg. I recommend it for those mystery lovers who are also history buffs, armchair travelers, and lovers of the outdoors.

For more info on the author and his books, visit ToddBorg.com

Based on the book beginning and teaser, would you keep reading?
Thanks to the author for a review copy of this book.

Book Review/Tour: Come Away with Me by Karma Brown

Come Away With Me by Karma Brown, published by Mira (August 25, 2015) 
"A story of love and loss, one woman’s discovery that life is still worth living, even if it’s not the life you planned. One minute, Tegan Lawson has an adoring husband, Gabe, and a baby on the way. The next, a patch of black ice causes a devastating accident that will change her life. Tegan is consumed by grief—not to mention anger toward Gabe, who was driving on the night of the crash. But Gabe reminds her of their Jar of Spontaneity, a collection of their dream destinations and experiences, and so begins an adventure of a lifetime. 
From the markets of Thailand to the flavors of Italy to the ocean waves in Hawaii, Tegan and Gabe embark on a journey to escape the tragedy and search for forgiveness. 
But they soon learn that grief follows you no matter how far away you run, and that acceptance comes when you least expect it." (publisher)

My comments: An intriguing story of a woman's coping with sudden, shocking loss, the novel has a plot twist at the end that will leave you spellbound! I was attracted to the book by the travel aspect and the story's premise of far away lands and experiences helping to deal with sorrow. Certainly a good book to read this summer!

Karma Brown is a National Magazine Award winning freelance writer and journalist, and a member of the Professional Writers Association of Canada. She lives just outside Toronto with her family and writes powerfully emotional upmarket women’s fiction, in the vein of Me Before You. COME AWAY WITH ME is her first novel.

Thanks to the publisher and TLC Book Tours for a review ARC of this book. Check out other reviews of Come Away with Me to see the tour schedule.