Blogging buddies, I am trying to get followers for my book reviews on twitter. I’ve had a twitter account for years but I have so few followers. Not sure why. Any suggestions?
Also, if you can please check out my account I would be very greatful. https://twitter.com/NeesRecord
Thanks fellow book lovers,
Martie
Funny and warm-hearted:
“Skipping Christmas” by John Grisham
What kind of reader would I be without this one?:
“A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens
“Yet it is in our idleness, in our dreams, that the submerged truth sometimes comes to the top.”― Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own
Genre: Nonfiction
Publisher: Random House
Pub. Date: June 1, 2021
If I was the author’s editor, I would have suggested a name change. The current title makes me think of a young woman running off on a motorcycle with her boyfriend rather than this heartwarming, true story, of an amazing 63-year-old woman, Annie Wilkins, who in the 1950s crosses the country by horseback. Annie was bold, quirky, and made up of true grit. What makes her story even more fascinating is that Wilkins had lived in poverty on the family farm, with no electricity or running water and certainly not a television. Yet, through word of mouth, each state was keeping an eye out for her. She became a folklore legend. She was even on Art Linkletter’s popular TV show “People Are Funny.” Letts does a superb job in making nonfiction read like fiction. The tale is never dull.
The tale is also nostalgic. Most chapters touch on the cultural history of mid-20th-century America and the postwar prosperity that transformed the U.S. You will read about; the hurrying to build interstate highways for the seven-million-dollar cars that were produced, the brand new supermarkets, McDonald’s, which forever changed how families eat when they travel. In addition, all of America fell in love with, “I Love Lucy.” Most importantly there is an emphasis on Americans helping strangers. Not sure if we could say that today. The book also relives political points such as, Senator Joseph McCarthy and his hunt for communists in the US, and Brown v. Board of Education with the beginnings of the civil rights movements. And, much more. Yes, Annie is endearing. On her tombstone, she asked it to read “The Last of The Saddle Tramps.” Have to love her wit. If you are not into history but you are a horse lover, this book will still be a great fit for you. There is much written about the bond between animal and human. But, for this reviewer what I enjoyed most was reading about America in those years. The book never read like a boring history book yet I did relearn much.
I received this Advance Review Copy (ARC) novel from the publisher at no cost in exchange for an honest review.
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Fascinating woman.
Genre: Comedy-Drama/LGBTQ
Publishers: G.P. Putnam
Pub. Date: May 25, 2021
Mini-Review
Although “The Guncle” deals with young children losing their mother to cancer as their father checks into rehab for addiction, it’s still a funny, feel-good read. Expect to laugh a lot. While dad gets his act together (he is a good dad), the kids leave their Connecticut home and travel to California to spend the summer with their gay Uncle Patrick, who they call GUP. Patrick is a former TV star who became a shut-in following the death of his partner. At first, he’s a fish out of water with the kids, which makes for some very funny dialogue. But, he rather quickly turns into a combination of Uncle Joey and Uncle Jesse from “Full House.” You get the picture. When he isn’t poking fun at his own vanity, or that of the Hollywood cliques with which he used to run, Patrick is busy answering the kids’ many questions with panache. Between laughs, Rowley manages to make the reader feel genuine grief for the children’s and Patrick’s loss. Without being preachy, he gives us a credible glimpse of the difficulties of being a gay man in a straight world. Of course, the uncle and kids help each other heal. However, you won’t mind the clichés. In this type of tale, you expect the obvious. Think “A Man Called Ove” by Fredrik Backman. Predictable, yes, but also a delight. It ends (spoiler) with a return to show business—with the help of his six-year-old nephew, ten-year-old niece, and pinch a of YouTube magic, our hero makes a well-earned comeback.
I received this Advance Review Copy (ARC) novel from the publisher at no cost in exchange for an honest review.
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“She read books as one would breathe air, to fill up and live.”—Annie Dillard
So me. How about you?
Genre: Mystery & Thrillers
Publisher: G.P. Putam’s Sons
Pub. Date: August 3, 2021
Mini-Review
The book is marketed as a mystery and thriller but it is more a psychological cringe-worthy suspense story. The novel’s title is taken from a ballet position that is unnatural to the body and leads to long-term foot and lower-body damage. We meet, two sisters who are running and teaching dance in their late mother’s ballet school. Like the infamous ballet, “The Nutcracker,” this novel is also a dark fairytale. The sisters have some serious twisty issues. Deliciously gothic—saying anything more would be a spoiler. Nevertheless, exposing the underbelly of the cutthroat dance world is where Abbott’s writing shines. She can almost make you feel her characters’ high level of chronic pain that is considered simply par for the course. Teachers warn their students that when a dancer is no longer in pain they are no longer a dancer. The girls destroy their feet in a manner that reminded me of the tortures of foot binding. Eating disorders are the norm. Their bodies are covered with soft downy hair, which is the telling sign of anorexia. The toilets need to be plunged throughout the day due to the constant vomiting. This is all taken for granted, just another day at school. Other than the ending that came wrapped up in a bow, the author’s prose is taut and tense making “The Turnout” a good summer read.
I received this Advance Review Copy (ARC) novel from the publisher at no cost in exchange for an honest review.
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Genre: Contemporary Urban Fiction
Publisher: Self Published
Publication Date: April 26, 2021
The writer, Eoghan Brunkard, found me on an online book distributor site where authors can submit their books to reviewers. I usually do not accept books from this site because, in my opinion, they tend to offer low quality novels. (Yes, I can be a book snob). In the author’s request, he wrote, “Clementine Lane is a humorous, often empathetic, look at ordinary peoples’ lives in contemporary Ireland.” This caught my interest so I figured I’d give it a try. I am glad that I did because I found the novel to be well-written, poignant, and laugh-out-loud funny. “Clementine” reminded me of the movie, “The Commitments,” which also took place in Dublin’s working-class inner-city. Like in the film, there are colorful, foul-mouthed, fast-talking, and loveable characters. “Phyllis and Shane were good people and raised their children with interest, but they also raised them as they were raised.” Phyllis finds her 8-year-old son outdoors at night. “What are you doing out at this fucking time?!” Yet later in the tale, she complains about her 14-year-old daughter’s language. “With that foul mouth of yours? God forgive me, I don’t know where you get it from.”
The heart of the tale begins in an abandoned warehouse when Phyllis’s daughter befriends an adult male who is a homeless alcoholic. She asks him, “how did you end up like this, anyway?” He replies, “I have been asked that a lot…I have an answer already pre-prepared like a job interview.” His silly answer to the girl answers nothing. This is how the author cleverly reminds us, without preaching, that addiction can happen to anyone. The story’s tension derives from a drug rehab that has been granted permission to open up a center in the lane. The residents take a ‘Not In My Backyard’ stand. We get an ugly and honest front row look on the stigma faced by those struggling with addiction. “We’ll be terrified that a junkie will have a go or try to sell shite to the kids.”
The author sets his stage with vivid descriptions of the neighborhood, which include cottages meant for a small family. “However, liberal lust mixed with conservative Catholicism meant they usually housed a larger one.” As the lane widens, you will find rows of flats. Between them lies a basketball court with no hoops in a perpetually locked playground, “an amenity that the locals cannot be trusted with.” There is a former nunnery, where God must still be looking down on them because outside the building sits a thriving, “beautiful cherry blossom, which in April fills the dreary urban landscape with pink petals.” And, in the evenings, the “silver serpent street lamps slowly hissed to life outside Cartigan’s pub.” It could be said that in today’s apostate times the pub is more religiously frequented than St. Luke’s Church. But, don’t worry about the residents’ souls because Father Thomas can usually be found there too since the church closes at nighttime. “The wrong type tended to pray at 9.pm on a Friday night.”
“Clementine” should be read with a pint of ale or cider in hand. Still, while remaining in a comedy-parable style, empathy and the “importance of community in an increasingly isolating and individualizing world” is the recurring theme. A minor character who is a journalist visits the lane and decides to write an article, which he will call “Forgotten Pieces.” His motivation comes from “watching a couple aged by heroin, though they were probably just in their 40s.” Weaved into the plot is a children-scaring nun mystery that has haunted the lane for a century. It is an amusing side plot that does not distract from the story but it is not necessarily needed. It may be overkill. My funny bone did not need further tickling. The novel is peppered with “Irish Speak.” A glossary is included for non-Irish readers like myself. After the glossary, there is an “About The Author” page where he shares that in real life he has worked on inner-city community development projects. When one of his characters says, “We must remember not to lose sight of the human in the addiction,” it is fair to guess that is the author’s sentiment as well. Without resorting to too much sentimentality, “Clementine” is a fun, moving tale that is wiser than it initially lets on.
I received this Advance Review Copy (ARC) novel from the author at no cost in exchange for an honest review.
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Leave Me Alone I Am Reading and Reviewing 