Oprah gets old school with The Story of Edgar Sawtelle

The new Oprah Book selection for the fall has been made public and it's The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski. Most of the folks in book blogging land had already guessed that it would be Edgar Sawtelle,but no one is ever a hundred percent sure about these things until you see a book bearing that mutually loved and hated official Oprah seal.

What makes me happy to hear this news is not just that it's a great book(that I have been reading very slowly,to make it last longer)but that Oprah is reviving one of her own traditions,picking a debut novel by a promising author. In the early days of Oprah's Book Club,this was one of the things that first endeared readers and a few booksellers as well to her cause.



The best known beneficiary of the OBC in this category is Wally Lamb,who was lucky enough to have his first novel(She's Come Undone)and his second one(I Know This Much Is True)get tapped by the Oprah stick. Lamb has a new novel due to come out this November called The Hour I First Believed and it was rumored to be the new Oprah pick for awhile.

Since Lamb is a great writer,I think few would begrudge him that unique honor(only Toni Morrison's works had been selected more than twice as Oprah books)but I am glad that David Wroblewski is the person who will have his day in the Oprah spotlight.



Another good thing that Oprah's club used to do was pick books by lesser known writers who had been gaining some small ground in the literary world and thanks to Oprah,got a ticket to the big show(at least for awhile,in some cases).

Writers like Chris Bohjalian,Christina Schwarz,Kaye Gibbons,Maeve Binchy, and Alice Hoffman gained some new readers and energized their early fan base with a nod from Oprah. While their latest titles may not be as celebrated as their OBC ones,that's not a bad item to have on your author resume,in my opinion.



As we all know,the Oprah game changed when she picked Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections and after hearing about Franzen expressing some doubts about being an "Oprah author",she refused to have him on the show. The book is still listed as an Oprah selection but she didn't do a follow-up program on it,which was not fair to the people who read the book based on her recommendation.

Most folks were all "how dare he!" about the Franzen fracas but I for one think he got a bum rap. I checked out some of those interviews he gave during that period and the harshest thing he said was this :

" That's one of the perverse, not to say fetishistic responses to the obliteratively ubiquitous presence of buying in our lives: to say, "I don't buy the popular stuff, I buy the small label stuff," as if that makes you any less of a consumer. But I'm somewhat guilty of it myself, and it follows a pattern. Certainly in music, suddenly the band you like because it was not produced goes to a major label and becomes heavily produced. It's hard to think of a major label Mekons recording, for example. It's impossible because they would never do it.

But I'm with you, I don't think the same applies to fiction. The problem in this case is some of Oprah's picks. She's picked some good books, but she's picked enough schmaltzy, one dimensional ones that I cringe, myself, even though I think she's really smart and she's really fighting the good fight. And she's an easy target. "



A bit snobby sounding,I grant you,but not that bad(the strongest word in that whole statement was "schmaltzy"). To be honest,he was saying what a lot of people were feeling in the industry behind closed doors to each other and didn't want to say in public for fear of killing the goose who laid the golden book sales. Some of those folks,along with the regular followers of the OBC,were saddened when Oprah shut the club down for a bit,right after that mess.



Even when Oprah brought the book club back,it wasn't quite the same. Other TV reading groups had come and gone,plus some of the new themes that were introduced such as classic cannon titles and various nonfiction selections,didn't always catch ahold of readers' imagination the way her earlier book club picks did(and caused another scandal to boot).

All of that has changed for the better with The Story of Edgar Sawtelle. This book is a wonderfully written old fashioned good thumping read that already has received quite a bit of praise from critics and readers and now will get an even bigger stage to strut it's stuff upon. Congratulations,David Wroblewski and thank you for writing one of the best books to come out this year.

If you haven't gotten a chance to read Edgar Sawtelle yet,please take this opportunity to do so now. Don't hold off because of the Oprah label,I beg of you. This is a novel with a real down home feel and form to it that will be still talked about for years to come. Think of it as a really great song that makes your toes tap and lifts your spirits that can be enjoyed by all:

Project Runway deals with mother/daughter issues,Top Design opens up a few Runway windows and taking a ride with the Sons of Anarchy

Project Runway doubled up on clients this week,as the challenge was to make an outfit for recent college grad girls who had their moms along side for some advice and influence on the design. The new clothes were part of an overall TreSemme makeover,with the winning look being featured in an ad for Elle magazine.



The guest judge this week was Cynthia Rawley,who many know as one of the regular judges on HGTV's Design Star. It was nice to see her input on clothes and in my opinion,Rowley was better dressed here than she's ever been on Design Star(some of those outfits did not suit her,sorry Cyndy!)



Anyway,on to the challenge at hand;Kenley got to work on a girl who is a fashion buyer and whipped up a trendy little number that had everyone calling her model a "miniature Kenley".

Personally,I thought the whole look was more of a Ugly Betty clone(it's not hard to picture Betty walking around Mode in this dress,is it?)and while it did turn out well,Kenley's bad behavior soured the mood.

She laughed at another designer on the runway AGAIN(with her model giggling right beside her)and is still talking trash about Tim Gunn,of all people! Tim is there to help you,honey and despite your claim that you "don't change things for Tim",you did shorten that tulle on the skirt like he suggested before that dress left the workroom.



Leanne is a much nicer person but I do have to agree with the judges that her dress for the elementary school teacher looked much better without the jacket. Granted,the gal wanted to have a look of authority and not be mistaken for a student,however that gray bit of business hid the glory of the dress.



Leanne did have to rework the top half of the dress near the end,since the teacher's mother thought it made her daughter look flat chested at first. It was a hassle but her last minute re-do was clearly worth it,as the judges swooned over the dress once the jacket was taken off.



Korto created a nice jacket and dress combo,too(that seemed to be the unspoken theme for the designers this week)for a budding biologist. I had my doubts about the look yet,she really managed to pull this off. Rowley,in particular,praised the jacket as being very refined.



Kudos to Jerell,for winning this challenge and having a second victory notch on his belt. This blend of brown shades and moderate use of frills combined with a lovely pencil skirt and cardigan that didn't look dowdy at all was wonderful to witness.

Bonus points to Jerell for listening to his client,who didn't want to be made up ultra feminine and bonding so well with her. Listening skills are important,people!



Suede needs to listen to someone other than the third person in his head who kept telling him that "Suede doesn't do pants".

His photographer model would have more use for them than the shapeless coat he made to cover up that so called "Pucci looking purple" dress. He tried to defend that ensemble by saying she wanted something that would go from day to evening but Rowley suggested than she'd be better off going home to change first(ouch!)



Joe's pin striped suit dress earned him not only a dismissal from the competition but the title of "Becky Home-Ec-Ky" from Michael Kors. I hated the up turned collar on the shirt,which was sloppy and ill fitting on his graphic designer gal.

She also disliked the pinstripes,which did look dated and dull. Joe insisted that she needed a good interview outfit(since she didn't have a job yet)and that pinstripes were considered to be serious enough. It would've helped if he had seriously made that shirt look like it belonged on a professional rather than a rag that even folks shopping at a flea market would turn down,regardless of price.

Next week should be interesting,as Tim Gunn in the previews says it will be the "most unique runway show" they've ever had. Also,Kenley seems to be having a crying fit or two,another reason to check it out.




Top Design saw some Runway action with their challenge this week,which was to create a store window to showcase an outfit made by past contestants from Project Runway. Two of the PR clients were known to be trouble(Santino and Jeffrey)while the others were much more pleasant to deal with (Sweet P,Andrae,Daniel from Season 1).



Preston and Andrea worked with S1 Daniel,who wanted a window that was based on a poem he had written. Preston was made the team leader and immediately clicked into the poem's vibe,capturing the description of dark tree branches and sandy soil that made the dress pop.



Ondine and Natalie had Sweet P,who saw her dress as a butterfly coming out of it's cocoon. The ladies were able to interpret that nicely,without being too obvious and making their window shine along with the dress on display, They won the challenge and I was happy to see that.



What didn't make me happy was seeing Kerry take the fall for his team's window. Jeffrey's concept was Blade Runner,which didn't click with either Kerry or Wisit right away. Kerry suggested a David Hockney approach,with mirrors creating a kaleidoscope effect that Jeffrey liked and made him team captain for.

Kerry's big mistake was in trying to please both Jeffrey and Wisit,who insisted that mirrors weren't enough and had big shiny wallpaper put up on both ends. Jeffrey hated that,and Kerry took a suggestion from Wisit to paint the two end panels of the window black to make up for that.



While it does make sense to hold a team leader responsible for the success or failure of their challenge,the judges picked the wrong one to send home. Kerry showed real character during the Judges' Panel by taking full responsibility for what went wrong and refusing to throw Wisit under the bus(too bad Wisit didn't return the favor very convincingly),praising him instead. Bad pick,judges,bad,bad bad!(did I mention that it was bad?)



The guy you should have sent packing was Norman,who hated the dress that Andrae made and let that dislike of that(plus the confusing political climate motif that Andrae wanted for the window)influence the end result.



Nathan didn't listen to Shazia during the shopping and bought wicker pieces that Andrae vetoed upon arrival,which ended up in the cluttered crapfest display looking more desolate than originally intended. He also threw Shazia out to the wolves as quick as could be and while she's a bit of a ditz,she did at least listen to the client. Next time,judges,be more careful with your choices or put more thought into them than Kelly Westerler puts into her hair styles.(she needs an appointment with Tabatha,stat!)



The new F/X series,Sons of Anarchy,is about a biker gang who rules the small town of Charming with an steady eye towards the forces eager to make things unsteady,both inside and out of their select circle. My sister got me interested in this show and I have to admit,it's pretty good so far.



SOA is well cast,with Ron Perlman as the current head of the clan and Katey Segal as the reigning matriarch who is also the mother of Jax(Charlie),the heir to the Charming biker throne.

Jax is starting to have some doubts about what the gang was truly meant to be about,as he reads through the memoirs of his late father,who died under mysterious circumstances. A very smart way to slip in a Hamlet subtext here,plus all of the other subplots stirred into this soup makes the Sons of Anarchy worth the ride:



RANDOM NOTES:



THE RACHEL ZOE PROJECT: I didn't plan to watch this show,but after seeing a couple of episodes,I just can't help myself.

What makes me want to see more of this entry into Vapid Fest of '08 is not the flaky Ms. Zoe,who believes that saving money for a rainy day is senseless and every time her husband/manager suggests that they do something economically sound,gives him a look of disgust suited to the suggestion of barbecuing babies for lunch.



No,what hooks me is the plight of new assistant,Brad,hired to do the grunt work and get a little training from Taylor,the head assistant who would be perfect to keep the trains running on time in a fascist state. Taylor is nasty to both Rachel and Brad,who is capable of doing the work if only Taylor would drop that rule about him not talking to her and expecting him to know everything that needs to be done with a minimum of communication(I'm not kidding,folks!).

She undermines him at every turn and talks back to her boss,which is more "bananas" than anything Rachel has deemed to be so thus far. This clip is from the last episode where Taylor and Brad had to deal with a flood in the basement studio but it doesn't show that Taylor(after screaming her head off)told Brad not to tell Rachel about what had happened at first and left him all alone to deal with the clean up.

While Brad went outside during the clothes removal to call some folks on the phone to get replacement outfits,Taylor introduced the whole mess to Rachel and used that opportunity to hang him out to dry. Brad,you really need to be more aggressive here or both of these women will just walk all over you in their overpriced designer shoes. Rachel, if you don't want to be a referee,then act like a damn boss and put Taylor in her place,pronto!:

Heroes' new set of villains can inspire you to create your own menacing menagerie

I can hardly wait for the third season premiere of Heroes(and it's a two hour one on top of that)next week,especially the big theme this time around is villains. Granted,this show already has assembled quite a rogue's gallery but their ranks will soon be filled up to the brim with Big Bads for everyone.

We'll still have some of the evil doers we know and love,Sylar being my personal favorite,which makes for some fun as bad guys are rather prone to infighting. To quench my thirst for this fresh batch of villainy,let's look at a few other menaces to society that may not be as celebrated as Darth Vader,Lex Luthor or Hannibal Lector but have made their own mark of distinction in the realm of pop culture evil:



ARCHIBALD CUNNINGHAM(ROB ROY)

While there are a number of villains that appear in the 1995 version of Rob Roy,most of the fans of that film would agree that Archibald "Archie" Cunningham was the worst of them.

As played by Tim Roth(who is amazingly excellent in villain roles),Archie is a coldly charming sociopath and social climber,willing to do anything to reach a higher status in life but doesn't hesitate in ripping off his benefactor(John Hurt,in another great role)as well.

The most horrible thing about Archie is his unconcealed delight in using and abusing people,even the young house maid Betty who begs him to help her with the baby that she is having because of him. His dismissal of her plight is viciously humorous,to say the least:





MORGANA (EXCALIBUR)

John Boorman's retelling of the Arthurian legend in Excalibur has been sadly unappreciated for a long while now. Yet,those who know and love this movie get to enjoy seeing Helen Mirren work her mojo as the infamous and vengeful half sister of Arthur, Morgana (traditionally,it's Morgan but they added an a here) Le Fay.

Like many great villains,Morgana's potential for evil is only recognized at first by an elder ally of good,namely Merlin(Nicol Williamson,who aces the part). At a crucial turning point, Merlin attempts to eliminate the threat of Morgana from Camelot but unexpected events cause the lady in question to gain the upper hand and allow her to remove a major obstacle in her path to power:





SWAN (PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE)

Villains share many things in common with heroes,one of those traits being that they come in all sizes and shapes. Not every bad guy struts around in a black hat,twirling a pointed mustache or slinking around with open hostility towards their opponents. No,the smartest villains are the ones who lure the hero into trusting them with achieving their allegedly mutual goals and then plot to betray their unwitting ally behind his/her back.

Paul Williams,as the devilishly devious music mogul Swan,plays a very realistic bad guy in a very exaggerated dark parody,Phantom of the Paradise. While you can't confirm that your average corporate executive is not in league with Satan, it's a safe bet that any contract you signed without your own legal representative present is bound to have some hellish loopholes that are not in your favor:





GLORIFICUS (BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER,SEASON 5)

Part of the challenge of a continuing TV series is turning up the volume on the threat scale and with the Big Bads of Buffy the Vampire Slayer,Glorificus,aka Glory, was at a level above and beyond the usual Sunnydale foe.

A hell god,exiled from her dimension and forced to share her existence within the body of a reluctant mortal(creating a Doctor Jekyll and Sister Hyde motif for the season) who had to suck the sanity out of humans to keep her own,was a doozie of an evil deity.

Some of the BTVS fans didn't quit warm up to Glory(played by Clare Kramer)but I always found her amusing and quite a deadly force to reckon with. Even when Willow revs up her powers to get revenge for Glory's brain drain on Tara,the glam goddess is not easily defeated or down for the count for long:





Since the second season of Heroes had a bit of trouble wowing the fans(not to mention being cut short due to the Writer's Strike),hopes are on the rise for this next round to do well.

With Sylar back in action and a few more bad boys and girls thrown into the mix,the ingredients for a sweet sizzling show about super powered people are already on the table. Cross your fingers,folks,that everything is mixed together just right and that the main course is as chock full of meaty goodness as the appetizers seem to be:

What's so funny?

Talking about what tickles your funny bone seems to be the big thing at the moment(the way the world's going,a good laugh is seriously needed)in the pop culture world. Rolling Stone just put out a huge issue devoted to humor,which inspired the NYT book blog to make a list of the funniest novels ever.

Now humor is very subjective-what cracks one person up would make another stare at them with confusion and/or the urge to slowly step away. For example,I find it hilarious when General Zod in Superman II says "Lex Luthor,ruler of Australia.."during a big scene that's not meant to be funny at all. Nonetheless,that minor bit of dialog gives me the giggles.

Even tho we all don't find the same things to be funny all of the time,laughter can still be a unifying force that brings folks together. With that in mind,I'd like to share with you some of my favorite funny pieces of pop culture and hope that some of them might amuse you,too:



MYSTERY MEN

This odd as a cod comic book farce has slowly become a cult movie fav with many people,growing in strength with the rise in quality from superhero films. I fondly recall seeing this flick in theaters and still finding it as funny as the day I first saw this sucker.

There are many,many reasons that Mystery Men makes me laugh but a key one is that it's the last movie that I found Ben Stiller to still be funny in. Stiller has lost his comedic charm for me over the years(I only laughed once during There's Something About Mary)but here,he's dead solid perfect as Mr. Furious,the determined to be taken seriously antihero with the lame witticisms and need to start bickering with The Bowler(Janeane Garofalo)like a pair of fifth graders.

My favorite Mr. Furious moment is when he stomps atop of Casanova Frankenstein's limo,screaming "The roof,the roof,the roof is on fire!" We may need no water but I need to take a breath in between chuckles when that happens:





THE DIAPER ROBBERY SEQUENCE IN RAISING ARIZONA

One of the best made films in the Coen brothers oeuvre, Raising Arizona has much to offer to the comedy connoisseur. Yet,if I had to pick just one bit of that particular stew to savor,it would be the botched robbery section where H.I. reverts to his criminal ways,with newly stolen son and former law abiding wife waiting in the car for him.

Once his beloved bride realizes what is up,the whole deal snowballs into a frenzied chase sequence,which is played out without overhyping the onscreen antics(the theme music in the background sets the offbeat mood)and resulting in an unusual moment of personal victory:





I'M JOEY...I'M DISGUSTING....

A classic episode of Friends is the one where Ross looses his mind over his turkey sandwich being snatched up by one of his museum co-workers(the man loves his moist maker slice!)and while I enjoy that,along with the subplot about Rachel and Phoebe taking a lit class together,the strongest thread in that silly story line are the constant moments of embarrassment that Joey has to put up with,in order to help Monica and Chandler conceal their budding romance from the rest of the group.

It all comes to a breaking point,where Joey gets the chance to be clever for once and turn the tables on his insistent pals who would rather have him be thought of as a sex addict than tell the truth. My favorite line has to be where Rachel freaks out and says"He eats chicken and then he looks at us!":





THAT'LL DO,PIG,THAT'LL DO.

The formidable Emily Gilmore has very few things that strike her heart with fear,the biggest one being her verbally vicious mother-in-law,Trix. Trix is doted on by Richard and amusingly admired by her granddaughter Lorelai,mainly for the mere fact that sound of Trix's voice sets her controlling mother off into a frantic frenzy of appeasement.

Lorelai does take pity on her mom at one point during a particularly trying visit and offers Emily some advice on how to deal with Trix;find a way to make her eternal displeasure funny. Emily tests this theory out at dinner(rigorously timed by Trix's standards)and achieves instant results,along with praise from her daughter:






Let me end this piece with a clip of a new favorite of mine,the recent SNL opening skit with Tina Fey as Sarah Palin and Any Poehler as Hilary Clinton. I haven't watched the show in years,finding less and less to find funny about it over time. While I didn't see the season opener last weekend,this bit has been making the rounds online and making me literally laugh out loud.

The best part about it is that it mocks both ladies exceedingly well. Political humor gets dated faster than milk can expire,most times,and is usually one sided. With such a major league election coming up,it's good to have some laughs on both sides of the aisle,for a change:

The Heretic's Daughter reveals a family legacy of historical horror thru literature

Sarah Carrier is only about nine years old,when her family moves to Andover,Massachusetts to live and work on her grandmother's farm but already has a teenage girl's resentment towards her mother,Martha. Martha is a severe seeming woman with a harsh tongue that quickly gains her many enemies amongst her neighbors and family members.

When an outbreak of smallpox strikes one of Sarah's brothers,she and her baby sister Hannah are sent to live with their Aunt and Uncle Toothaker,who are much more lively and openly loving to each other than the Carrier clan. Sarah bonds with her cousin Margaret,who lives in her own dream world,and feels as if she has found her real family at last.



Despite seeing some of the flaws in the Toothaker's household,Sarah is not happy to finally go home after the pox has passed,leaving her brother alive but her kindly grandmother dead. A family dispute over who should inherit the farm keeps Sarah from seeing Margaret and inflames more of her dislike towards her mother.

Martha's forthright nature leads her to take charge in many of the situations that the Carriers face in their new neighborhood,including dealing with a wayward servant girl named Mercy who is turned out of the house for several reasons. Mercy joins the growing group of folk who spread vicious rumors about Martha being a witch and lumps Sarah into that deadly mix.



Soon enough,the witchcraft accusation craze from the town of Salem spreads to nearby communities such as Andover and Martha is officially charged and arrested. Sarah slowly realizes that her mother is not as hardhearted as she appears to be and must try to follow her example of strength and support for her family.

Even when Sarah and her brothers join their mother in jail,charged with witchcraft as well,the courage and fortitude of Martha's never wavering stance of proclaiming her innocence has to serve as the only nourishment for the souls and sanity of the Carrier children.



The author of The Heretic's Daughter,Kathleen Kent,is a tenth generation descendant of the real Martha Carrier who was fascinated by family stories about her infamous relation and thoroughly researched the history of the Salem witch trials to know more about her.

This debut novel truly brings to life not only one family's struggle against a growing wave of social hysteria but the bonds that develop between a mother and daughter who are more alike than either of them care to realize.

The terrors of the Salem witch trials are vividly captured and feel as current as today's headlines,with fears about both known and unknown dangers in the world being given an easy target for folks to knock about. It also gave the unscrupulous a golden opportunity to seek attention and revenge upon those who have thwarted their will in the past :





It is not just the Carrier women who are fully portrayed in this novel;Sarah's brothers and even her quietly stern father(who has a few secrets from his past to conceal)bring forth their own feats of courage,restrained as they seem to be, and deal with their inner and outer conflicts during this turbulent time.

The Heretic's Daughter is one of the most moving pieces of historical fiction that I have ever read. Kathleen Kent has not only shared with us a bold new look into the nearly taken for granted history of the Salem witch hunt,she has created a stirring account of a family legend that honors their memory. This novel is a great cultural inheritance for many literary generations to come:

Tag! This book is it!

One of my new blogger buddies,Karen, over at Planet Books just tagged me for a meme recently and I thought it would be fun to give it a whirl. It's a game that's right up my alley,actually-I and the other two chosen blogs were given three lists made up of three books each and asked to subtract one of the titles.

You then add in a book of your own choosing,based on the topic of the list,of course. The only other requirement is that your book be a current one(within the last couple of years). Now that everyone knows the rules of the game,let us begin:

3 MUST READ BOOKS:



Original list: Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones. I've heard good things about this one,the story takes place on a island called Bougainville near New Guinea during the 1990s where most of the foreign residents have fled,due to fear of rebel invasion. One man has stayed behind,Mr. Watts,who agrees to become the new school teacher and uses Great Expectations as his lesson plan. I haven't read it but it does sound like an interesting read.




Planet Book Pick: Keeping the House by Ellen Baker. This is a book that I loved as well and I'm happy to see it here. This is a wonderful novel about finding your future by looking into the past for inspiration. Keeping the House just came out in paperback this summer,so I suspect that plenty of reading groups will snatch this baby up for their lists this season.



LRG Pick: Who the Hell is Pansy O'Hara:The Fascinating Stories Behind 50 of the World's Best Loved Books by Jenny Bond and Chris Sheedy.

Every reader,in my humble opinion,should have a book or two about the history of writers and this handy little number perfectly fits the bill.

In brief but informative chapters,the authors go over the life and times of such famous books as Pride & Prejudice,Jane Eyre,War of the Worlds and Winnie the Pooh along with background info on their authors and their literary connections(did you know that H.G. Wells had Thomas Huxley as one of his teachers and then when Wells became a teacher himself,A.A. Milne was a student of his? I sure didn't!)

Modern titles like The Color Purple,Carrie and The DaVinci Code are also highlighted along with nonfiction favorites such as Roots,In Cold Blood and A Brief History of Time. This is a nice collection of literary factoids that will educate,refresh or be useful to have on hand if you're a Phone-a-Friend on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire(it's still on the air,in a daytime format).



3 KEEP YOUR EYES ON THESE



Original list: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. Another good book that I got to read and review and from what I hear,it's doing very well on the bestseller lists.

I know that Oprah's announcing her new Book Club Selection next Friday and since we know her pick is from a different publisher than the one that is putting out GL&PPPS,it's not in the running,which is a shame.

I'm sure that the Oprah pick will be interesting but it would be nice to see someone out there in TV land give this book a promo push-hey,Ellen,want to start a book club on your show?



Planet Books Pick: Driving Sideways by Jess Riley. The leading lady of the story is Leigh Fielding,a recent recipient of a kidney transplant who feels as if her new interests in life(graphic novels,ethnic food,kayaking)are the results of channeling the spirit of her donor,Larry.

Leigh decides to take an "Unfinished Business Tour",to look up old friends and family as well as check on Larry's next of kin. Along the way,she picks up a hitchhiking teenager named Denise who has her own unfinished business to deal with.

I haven't read this book but I can see why Planet Books chose it,this story seems to have a fun and funky flavor to it. Oh,and the author Jess Riley was tagged with this meme,too and plans to respond to it by next week. Check out her blog to see what she selects.



LRG Pick: The Heretic's Daughter by Kathleen Kent. This is my big read this weekend and the book's already gotten some great reviews,including one in the New York Times by Chelsea Cain,pretty sweet!

What's not so sweet is the horrors that Sarah Carrier must witness her mother Martha being put through as a defendant during the infamous Salem Witch Trials.

Sarah is 11 when her mother is accused and not only has to endure the ordeal of the trial,in which Martha insists upon her innocence and doesn't back down,but struggles to keep her family together during this terrible and terrifying time.

The author of this novel is a tenth generation descendant of Martha Carrier,which gives the book an extra dose of poignancy. I'll fill you folks in on how the book is next week but I can feel it in my bones that this is a thumping good read.

3 LOOK FOR THESE SOON



Original list: When Will There Be Good News? by Kate Atkinson. The story starts with a knife attack on a mother and her three young children on a country road which leaves only the six year old,Joanna Mason,the lone survivor.

Thirty years later,a ex-cop named Brodie is rescued from a train crash by the nanny of Dr. Joanna Hunter,the former young Mason. When Dr. Hunter mysteriously disappears around the same time that the man who went to prison for the Mason murders has been released, Brodie is recruited by the nanny to find her.

This book has just come out for sale and while I've never read an Atkinson book,this does sound intriguing.



Planet Books Pick: Between Here & April by Deborah Copaken Kogan. This debut novel deals with the repressed memory of a childhood tragedy by Lizzie,a TV producer/journalist,involving the death of her first grade friend April Cassidy. April was killed by her mother Adele(who then took her own life) back in 1972,along with her sister.

Lizzie not only goes to therapy to cope with her new found memories of that time but does some research into the Cassidy family as the basis for a cable TV documentary and winds up finding out way more than she ever intended to.

The book is due out on September 30th,and it should be a well received book from what I'm hearing about it.



LRG Pick: The Four Seasons: A Novel of Vivaldi's Venice by Laurel Corona. This story has two sisters at the the heart of it,who are abandoned at infancy in the alleyway of the Ospedale della Pieta,a well known foundling hospital and musical academy.

Chiaretta is the more high spirited of the two and a natural born singer,who gains a fast rise to fame with her exceptional voice. Her sister Maddalena is drawn to the violin and her passion and strides towards mastering it catches the eye of Antonio Vivaldi,who develops a relationship with her and makes her one of his muses that inspired his legendary composition,The Four Seasons.

The Four Seasons is set to arrive in stores in November and I'll be reminding everyone about it in my November/December book preview later this fall.

Now,I'm supposed to tag three other blogs with this meme but I'm sort of shy when it comes to these things,so any of my regular readers(and the irregular ones,too)are free to grab this baton and run with it,if they please. Book recommendations can be tricky and giving books as gifts to people you don't know very well can be just as hazardous to one's social health: