Jul 10, 2023

It's Monday: What Are You Reading? My Nemesis by Charmaine Craig

 Newly Discovered book:

 I was interested in the different versions of what is acceptable femininity.  

My Nemesis by Charmaine Craig
Published February 7, 2023; Grove Press












Publisher information:

An intellectual affair and its reverberations across the lives of two couples

Tessa, a successful writer, develops a friendship with Charlie, a  handsome philosopher and scholar based in Los Angeles. Sparks fly as they exchange intellectual ideas —but there are obstacles to their developing friendship. 

Tessa’s husband Milton enjoys Charlie’s company, while Charlie’s Asian wife Wah’s traditional femininity and subservience strike Tessa as weaknesses. Tessa scoffs at the sacrifices Wah makes as adoptive mother to a Burmese girl, Htet, once homeless on the streets of Kuala Lumpur. The conflict leads to Tessa’s declaration that Wah is “an insult to womankind.” 

An exercise in empathy, an exploration of betrayal, and a charged story of the thrill of a shared connection—and the perils of feminine rivalry—


Charmaine Craig
is the author of My Nemesis; Miss Burma, longlisted for the 2017 National Book Award for Fiction and the 2018 Women’s Prize for Fiction; and The Good Men, a national bestseller. She received her MFA from the University of California at Irvine, and is a faculty member in the Department of Creative Writing at UC Riverside. 

Jul 8, 2023

Paris in July, 2023 Reading Challenge: Sunday Salon

 Words and Peace is hosting the Paris in July 2023 Reading Challenge. ##parisinjuly2023parisinjuly2023



Paris in July 2023
#parisinjuly2023
(Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest)

During this month,
our goal is to embrace and honor our French encounters
by immersing ourselves in various activities
like reading, watching, listening, observing, cooking,
and indulging in all things French

The books I've chosen for the challenge and the descriptions from NetGalley/publishers

A Bakery in Paris

Historical novel set in nineteenth-century and post–World War II Paris follows two fierce women of the same family, generations apart, who find that their futures lie in the four walls of a simple bakery in a tiny corner of Montmartre. (publication August 30, 2023)




The Paris Assignment

A courageous wife, mother, and resister confronts the devastation of World War II in a heartbreaking and hopeful novel by the bestselling author of The Venice Sketchbook and The Tuscan Child. (publication August 2023)



The Paris Mystery

Intrepid reporter Charlotte "Charlie" James arrives in Paris in 1938 eager to make a fresh start, but little does she know the trouble that awaits her...

On the summer solstice eve, the Circus Ball is in full swing, with the Parisian elites entranced by burlesque dancers, tightrope walkers, a jazz band . . . and a horrific murder. A wealthy but unscrupulous investor is dead, and the list of suspects is a veritable who's who of le haut monde. As Charlie tries to determine who the murderer is, she finds herself drawn into the magical parties, couture houses, and bohemian wine bars of the City of Lights. ( publication September 2023)



A Paris Odyssey

Genre: novel, travel, France

American Grant Decker is in Paris on a photography assignment.

When he arrives at Gare du Nord train station, he discovers just how unprepared he is to navigate this new world where the language is both vaguely familiar and baffling. ‘”Vous ne parlez pas français?” My brain turned around three times and then went to sleep!’

Determined to get his bearings, Grant explores the length and breadth of the city on the metro. But it is when he makes new friends among some street performers that he discovers a different Paris. These off-beat characters help him sharpen his eye and open his heart to the many love stories that weave through ‘the city of light.’  (published April 2023)




A provocative and stylish literary noir about two female war correspondents whose fates intertwine in Europe.


Paris, 1938. Mielle, a shy pacifist and shunned Mennonite who struggles to fit in with the elite cohort of foreign correspondents stationed around the city; the other, Jane, a brash, legendary American journalist, who is soon to become a fascist propagandist. (publication November 2023)


My book choices: These are ARCs that are on my TBR list. Some have yet to be published. The Paris Odyssey was published in April and is the only nonfiction, and not set during the war. 

I will be trying to read some but maybe not all of the books for the challenge. #p#parisinjuly2023arisinjuly2023

What's on your reading schedule this week and/or the rest of the month?#parisinjuly2023
#parisinjuly2023

Memes: The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated BookreviewerAlso,  It's Monday: What Are You Readingand Sunday SalonStacking the ShelvesMailbox Monday. Paris in July 2023


Jul 1, 2023

The Which of Shakespeare's Why by Leigh Light: Sunday Salon


After last week's Sunday post, I've been rereading the three books I featured there by Michel Bussi, French thriller writer, and have neglected all my TBRs. I'm almost finished (good reading all over again), and have to decide my next read. 

I've been ignoring the library as I have a stuffed Kindle, full of the ARCs I have to read. 

 In the meantime, a more literary novel came in the mail yesterday: 


The Which of Shakespeare's Why: A Novel of the Authorship Mystery Near Solution Today, by Leigh Light, publication September 19, 2023, City Point Press. 

The book dallies with the age old premise that the real Shakespeare could have been Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford, an Elizabethan peer and courtier  (1550-1604)




Publisher:
 The controversy over who really wrote Shakespeare’s plays has been around almost since they were written. Was the genius behind the plays really that obscure glover’s son from Stratford? Or was it someone else entirely—a man whose class, background, education, and peculiarities make him a more than plausible candidate?
 

In The Which of Shakespeare’s Why, a 21st-century playwright named Harry Haines makes the case for a major contender via a play he himself is writing for a struggling New Jersey theatre company. Faced with strong disapproval from the “Stratfordites” and with the backing of supporters that sometimes takes some unusual forms, Harry attempts, against great odds, to get the play written and staged.

In the process he has to overcome his own doubts, stay on the right side of the right people, keep his romantic life under control, and deal with not only a difficult actress or two but a flock of opinionated Rockettes. Part hilarious farce, part serious critical examination, The Which of Shakespeare’s Why provides a thought-provoking look at a controversial puzzle with a surprising, ingenious, and wholly satisfying ending that Shakespeare—whoever he was—would have given a standing ovation.

Would you pick up this new novel about the Shakespeare controversy? 

Thanks to Wiley Sachek Publicity for a review/feature copy of this  intriguing book. 

Memes: The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated BookreviewerAlso,  It's Monday: What Are You Readingand Sunday SalonStacking the ShelvesMailbox Monday

Jun 24, 2023

I'll Never Be French by Mark Greenside: Sunday Salon


Currently reading -

a book from my shelves that I rescued from my give away boxes. Why didn't I read this when I first got it? It's funny and informative, and very French!
 
Published: November 4, 2008; Atria
Genre: travel, memoir, nonfiction, humor, France

Mark Greenside and his girlfriend decide to live in a small French village in Brittany for about eight weeks. Mark fell in love with the place, the people, the customs, the food, and was encouraged by a neighbor to buy a house there. 

I'm enjoying his humor in telling the story of his growing love for Brittany and all things French, and the pitfalls of a foreigner trying to buy a home, open a bank account, and pay for a mortgage in France. 

I'm reading this in English, the author's language, but the memoir reminded me of the excellent French novels I've read over the years by mystery author, Michel Bussi. 

Here are a few I've read:


 

I finished a mystery set in Claude Monet's Givenchy, Black Water Lilies by Michel Bussi, February 7, 2017, Hachette. Translated from the French. I enjoyed it so much, I went on to read a previous novel of his, After the Crash, a mystery set in the Jura mountains of France.


My comments: After the Crash has an amazing plot. The only survivor in a horrific plane crash in the Jura mountains of France is a three-month-old baby girl. She was one of two baby girls of the same age on the plane, and none of the four parents survived the crash. 

There is no way to identify the baby, in the days before DNA testing was available. Two sets of grandparents claim her, the wealthy de Carvilles, and a working class family, the Vitrals.

The court awards the child to the Vitrals, but Mrs. de Carvilles hires a private detective to prove the baby Lyse-Rose is really hers, and not Emilie, the Vitrals's child. She gives the detective eighteen years to prove the case. The baby grows up to be called Lylie, a combination of both names, Lyse-Rose and Emilie, as neither family is one hundred percent sure who the child really is.

The book follows the two families and Lylie as she grows up, the story given in a detailed notebook written over eighteen years by the detective, Credule Grand-Duc. What he discovers after eighteen years is stunning. There are plot twists that makes riveting reading. I enjoyed it very much.










Black Water Lilies/Les Lympheas Noir by Michel Bussi, February 7, 2017, Hachette. Translated from the French.
Genre; mystery, crime novel

This is an unusual crime novel set in Giverny, France, the town made famous by the artist Claude Monet and his water lilies. The lives of an old woman,  an attractive young teacher, and an 11-year-old girl intertwine in a mystery involving art, artists, talent, Monet's water lilies, and romantic as well as an obsessive love that change their lives. 

I enjoyed the mystery as well as learned a lot about Monet and Giverny, and found interesting the rendition of how he created his famous water lily paintings. 

 

translated from the French





Don't Let Go/Ne lâche pas ma main by Michel Bussi
Published March 7, 2013. Pocket 
Genre; mystery, suspense, Reunion

It was challenging reading this in French, before the English edition was printed, but I enjoyed the suspenseful plot, the description of Reunion, a beautiful mountainous island in the Indian Ocean, and the main character, a gutsy young policewoman.

Publisher: On an idyllic resort on the island of Réunion, Parisians Martial and Liane Bellion are enjoying the perfect family moment with their six-year-old daughter....Then Liane Bellion disappears from her hotel room. Her husband Martial becomes a suspect when blood is found in the room. But then Martial also disappears, along with his daughter. An all-out manhunt is declared across the island. 

Just published: 


Trois Vies Par Semaine by Michel Bussi
Publication: March 2, 2023; Presses de la Cite
Language: French
Genre: thriller, mystery, France

About: the body of a man is recovered in the Ardennes,  his car containing three different passports suggesting he had three different aliases. The police must determine if his death was suicide, an accident, or murder and try to discover the truth behind his triple lives.  

What books are you reading? 

Memes: The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated BookreviewerAlso,  It's Monday: What Are You Readingand Sunday SalonStacking the ShelvesMailbox Monday

Jun 17, 2023

Sunday Salon: Bookish Books Reading Challenge 2023

  

Blogging About Books has started the Bookish Books Reading Challenge 2023. The focus is on reviewing only books whose main themes are related to books! Read host Susan's description here.  



I can think of 
 Carlos Ruiz Zafon and the four books in his series, the Cemetery of Forgotten Books: The Shadow of the Wind (review), The Angel's GameThe Prisoner of Heaven (review), and The Labyrinth of the Spirits.  

Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan. And The Book Thief are others.

The Art of Memoir by Mary Karr, published September 2015 by Harper is all about writing books, namely your memories. 

Book's 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. 

IThe 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)


 

This is a book for bibliophiles, readers, reviewers, and those who collect books. It's also for those who don't read and are sceptical about the value of books.

And contemporary romantic comedy with a book loving heroine: Book Lovers (review) by Emily Henry. The main theme is romance, but books feature prominently.  


Setting for a romance: Nora Stephens’ life is books—she’s read them all—and she is not that type of heroine. On vacation, Nora keeps bumping into Charlie Lastra, a bookish brooding editor from back in the city. (publisher)

What bookish books have you read or are reading? 

Memes: The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated BookreviewerAlso,  It's Monday: What Are You Readingand Sunday SalonStacking the ShelvesMailbox Monday


Jun 10, 2023

Sunday Salon: No Two Persons: Stories by Erica Bauermeister, and Two Thrillers

 Not much reading done this past week, but I finished one and started on two new books. 


No Two Persons by Erica Bauermeister

Publication: May 2, 2023; St. Martin's Press, NetGalley
Genre: literary fiction, contemporary fiction, adult fiction 

My comments:

No Two Persons - the premise is that no two people will ever read the same book. In other words, a book will affect different readers in different ways.
This is a series of stories about various readers of a book written by an introverted young woman, Alice Weir. The book, Theo, tells of a young boy surviving a childhood with a strict and abusive father.

The vignettes in the novel show this one book altering different people's perspectives and actions. The characters in the stories are all going through some conflict at the time they read the book. One I remember used the book as part of her artwork. She was the only character that didn't actually read the book, however.

Overall, the stories are of interesting personalities who find some inspiration or message in a story that helps them in dissimilar situations. 

On a thriller binge, I'm currently reading:


What the Neighbors Saw by Melissa Adelman, 
Publication: June 20, 2023; Minotaur Books
Genre: adult fiction, mystery and thriller 

PublisherSometimes the darkest acts occur in the most beautiful houses…

When Alexis and her husband Sam buy a neglected Cape Cod house in an exclusive DC suburb, they are ecstatic. Sam is on the cusp of making partner at his law firm, Alexis is pregnant with their second child, and their glamorous neighbors welcome the couple with open arms. Things are looking up, and Alexis believes she can finally leave her troubled past behind.

But the neighborhood’s picture-perfect image is shattered when their neighbor Teddy – a handsome, successful father of three – is found dead on the steep banks of the Potomac River. The community is shaken, and as the police struggle to identify and apprehend the killer, tension in the neighborhood mounts and long-buried secrets start to emerge.



I'm Not Done With You Yet by Jesse Q. Sutanto
Publication: August 22, 2023; Berkley
Genre: adult fiction, mystery and thriller 

Publisher: Some friends—and friendships—are worth killing for in this dark, twisty suspense novel by national bestselling author Jesse Q. Sutanto.

Jane is unhappy.  A struggling midlist writer whose novels barely command four figures, she feels trapped in an underwhelming marriage, just scraping by to pay a crippling Bay Area mortgage for a house—a life—she's never really wanted. 

There's only ever been one person she cared about, one person who truly understood her: Thalia. Jane's best and only friend nearly a decade ago during their Creative Writing days at Oxford. Now, years later, Thalia comes back into her life. 

Memes: The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated BookreviewerAlso,  It's Monday: What Are You Readingand Sunday SalonStacking the ShelvesMailbox Monday


Jun 7, 2023

Waiting on Wednesday: Three New ARCs

 

Can't Wait Wednesday, a weekly meme hosted by Wishful Endings, highlights books you are eager to read 

Here are a few that came in the mail that I've not yet started. The book descriptions are from the publishers.


by Leonie Swann
Publication: August 29, 2023; Soho Crime ARC


A quirky group of seniors attempts to solve one murder while covering up another—with the help of an enterprising tortoise—in this twisty, darkly funny mystery from the author of Three Bags Full



I Hear You're Rich: Stories by Diane Williams
Publication: August 10, 2023; Scribe UK

In Williams’ stories, life is newly alive and dangerous; whether she is writing about an affair, a request for money, an afternoon in a garden, or the simple act of carrying a cake from one room to the next, she offers us beautiful and unsettling new ways of seeing everyday life.



Second Best by David Foenkinos, Megan Jones translator
Publication: September 7, 2023; Gallic Books

A fictional boy's life is shaped forever when he loses out on the role of Harry Potter. It's 1999. Martin Hill is ten years old.... he makes it to the final two in the casting for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. When the other boy is picked, a devastated Martin tries to move on with his life. But how can he escape his failure, especially when it's the most famous film series in the world?  

A playful, poignant story about fate, loss and how the lives we wish we’d led might not be all they’re cracked up to be . 

What books are you eagerly anticipating? 


Sunday Salon: Letting Go of September by Sandra J. Jackson

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