Sunday Salon: Inside Out and Back Again, a verse novel by Thanhha Lai

A novel in verse, Inside Out and Back Again, a coming-of-age debut work by Thanhha Lai is available as an ebook, paperback, or hardcover, and was published 2011 by HarperCollins. 

Book description: Inside Out and Back Again is a New York Times bestseller, a Newbery Honor Book, and a winner of the National Book Award! Inspired by the author's childhood experience of fleeing Vietnam after the Fall of Saigon and immigrating to Alabama, this coming-of-age debut novel told in verse has been celebrated for its touching child's-eye view of family and immigration.

My comments: I followed this young girl's impressions of her home in Vietnam before having to flee with her family when the North invaded the South at the end of the war. She loved papaya and planted her own tree, watching the formation and growth of the tiny papaya fruits that she eventually had to leave behind. 

We follow her on the boat heading for Thailand, her family's rescue, her relocation to and settlement in Alabama with the help of the local people, and finally her school days enduring bullying and teasing, and her rescue and protection by her older brothers from the mean kids. 

There is humor and pathos in the account, and the voice of a young girl comes through clear and strong in this relatively short and easy to read novel in verse.

I can see why it has won awards. It's for those who read poetry and even for those who do not.  

My rating: 5
Source: ebook bought for my Kindle

Welcome to the Sunday Salon where bloggers share their reading each week. Visit The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer.
Also visit It's Monday, What Are You Reading? hosted by Book Date. 

Sunday Salon: Good Taste by Jane Green

The Fortress: A Love Story by Danielle Trussoni, published September 20, 2016 by Dey Street Books. 
I am three-quarters of the way through this book, billed as "a memoir of love and transformation in France." It is about married foreigners in a 13th-century fortress in a small town in France, Aubais. The marriage is falling apart, and I'm not surprised given the bad vibes from the residence - a former fortress that may have seen a lot of bloodshed and death in the old days. The couple have even seen the same ghost at different times, albeit a friendly one, a woman in blue. Ghosts and violence in the past of a residence are not conducive to a happily married life,  in my opinion. 

Jane Green's new cookbook, Good Taste, came in the mail, thanks to NAL.

Good Taste: Simple, Delicious Recipes for Family and Friends by Jane Green, October 4, 2016, NAL
There are fairly simple, uncomplicated recipes that I'd like to try - 
- Daily Baby Back Ribs, with only six ingredients and five easy steps. 
- Slow Braised Onion Chicken, with seven ingredients (including three different parts of the chicken) and easy prep for an oven baked dish. 
- Plum Tart Tatin looks delicious.

I am still reading two novels about children "adopted" by Native American Indian couples in complicated scenarios.
In LaRose by Louise Erdrich, a tragic accident leads one family on a North Dakota reservation to give up their precious young son to another Indian family. 
In Winter's Child by Margaret Coel, an Arapaho couple on a reservation hopes to formally adopt a white child left by a stranger on their doorsteps years before. 

What are you reading this week? 

Welcome to the Sunday Salon where bloggers share their reading each week. Visit The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer.
Also visit It's Monday, What Are You Reading? hosted by Book Date. 

Book Beginning: The Fortress by Danielle Trussoni

The Fortress: A Love Story by Danielle Trussoni, published September 20, 2016 by Dey Street Books. A memoir of love and transformation in France.

Book beginning:

Before the club in Paris, and before the Frenchman, I was a woman in a fortress.
Or, more precisely, I lived with my husband and two children in La Commanderie, a medieval fortification at the center of the French village of Aubais, pronounced :obey," as in "love, honor and ...Aubais." Built by the Knights Templar in the thirteenth century, the fortress stood high on a hilltop and could withstand attack from every angle. 

Page 56: 

Love for Nicolai had brought me so far from home, so far from my family and friends and culture, that I didn't recognize myself anymore. I had always believed love to be transformative, but this wasn't what I'd expected at all.

THE FORTRESS is  a memoir about the disintegration of the author's marriage in the South of France.

Memes: The Friday 56. Grab a book, turn to page 56 or 56% of your eReader. Find any sentence that grabs you. Post it, and add your URL post in Linky at Freda's Voice. Also visit Book Beginning at Rose City Reader.

Sunday Salon: Some Books Require the RIght Frame of Mind

There are books and ebooks I have only half-read and these I know I'll get back to once in the right frame of mind. 

The Night Circus and its magical environment by Erin Morgenstern is one such book. It's a good book though I'm not really a fan of this genre.

I did finish Cara Black's Murder on the Quai; The Grand Tour by Adam O'Fallon Price; and The Last Kasmiri Rose by Barbara Cleverly.

I am now reading a WWII historical novel, 

The Girl from Venice by Martin Cruz Smith, an ARC I won from Shelf Awareness, the hardcover to be released October 18, 2016 by Simon and Schuster.

The Plan, a romance by Kelly Bennett Seiler, published September 20, 2016, arrived in the mail, thanks to Simon and Schuster's Infinite Words.  

What are you reading this week?
Welcome to the Sunday Salon where bloggers share their reading each week. Visit The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer.
Also visit It's Monday, What Are You Reading? hosted by Book Date. 

First Chapter: Paws and Effect by Sofie Kelly

Paws and Effect  (A Magical Cats Mystery #8) by Sofie Kelly

First paragraph:

The body was lying on the swing on the back deck, the wooden seat swaying gently back and forth. Definitely dead, I decided. And it had been placed there no more than half an hour ago. 

Book description: Magical cats Owen and Hercules and resourceful librarian Kathleen Paulson are back in the latest from the author of Faux Paw...
Would you continue reading based on the first paragraph?

Meme: Every Tuesday First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros are hosted by Bibliophile By the Sea. Share the first paragraph sometimes two, of a book you are reading or plan to read soon.

Mailbox Monday: Crimes and a Memoir

Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week. Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists.

The Fortress: A Love Story by Danielle Trussoni, published September 20, 2016 by Dey Street Books. A memoir of love and transformation in France.
Ghost Times Two: A Bailey Ruth Ghost Novel by Carolyn Hart, published October 4, 2016 by Berkley. Bailey Ruth Raeburn’s latest mission is to guide the happy-go-lucky spirit of a deceased young man named Jimmy to the next life. 
Hook, Line and Murder (Murder, She Wrote #46) by Carolyn Hart,  Octoer 4, 2016, Berkley. Jessica Fletcher takes a relaxing getaway at a fishing competition that turns into a reel deadly situation...
Crepe Factor (A Scrapbooking Mystery #14) by Laura Childs, Terrie Farley Moran, October 4, 2016, Berkley
Killing Thyme (A Spice Shop Mystery #3) by Leslie Budewitz, October 4, 2016, Berkley. 

 What came in your mailbox last week? 

Sunday Salon: Nice Cover Catches My Eye

HIstorical mysteries are a popular genre for mystery writers. The cover of this one caught my eye right off.

A Most Extraordinary Pursuit (Untitled #1) by Juliana Gray
Genre: historical mystery

Publisher's description: As the personal secretary of the recently departed Duke of Olympia—and a woman of good character—Miss Emmeline Rose Truelove never expected to be steaming through the Mediterranean on a luxuriously appointed yacht under the watchful and jovial eye of one Lord Silverton. But here they are, as improper as it is, on a quest to find the duke’s heir, whereabouts unknown.  And as they steam from port to port on Max’s trail, dodging danger at every turn, Truelove will discover the folly of her misconceptions—about the whims of the heart, the desires of men, and the nature of time itself... (goodreads)

After years of neglecting my ereader, I am having fun downloading ebooks from our local library, faster than I can read them. I have even decided to download a book I already have, hoping it will be easier to read it on the Kindle. The advantages are: you can read in low light, play with the size and style of the font, and not have to worry about a return date for the physical book. 

Welcome to the Sunday Salon where bloggers share their reading each week. Visit The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer.
Also visit It's Monday, What Are You Reading? hosted by Book Date.