The Girl's Contribution to National Poetry Month

National Poetry Month ends today, so I thought I'd share a poem The Girl wrote after school the other day.

Gold Fish
by The Girl, age 8

Always hungry and funny
it swims through a bubbling statue
in water
I love it.


Isn't that cute? I bet Auntie Serena is proud, given all the poetry she's featured on her blog this month.

(I don't have a recent picture of The Girl to share, so I thought I'd post a picture of her 1st communion, which was a year ago this weekend.)

Thanks so much!

Melissa from Melissa's Bookshelf has given me the One Lovely Blog award. Thanks so much! That's so kind of you.


Lilly from Reading Extravaganza has given me the 2009 Friendly Blogger award. Thanks so much! That's very sweet of you.

I encourage you all to check out their blogs, which I recently discovered and like a lot.

Tender Graces by Kathryn Magendie

Tender Graces by Kathryn Magendie is the kind of book that sticks with you long after you finish it. I turned the last page this morning, and I still can't get the characters out of my head. It's Southern fiction set in West Virginia and Louisiana from the 1950s through the present. The story is told in the first person by Virginia Kate Carey, opening in the present as she makes her way back to West Virginia to pick up her mother's ashes. While back in her childhood home for the first time in years, Virginia Kate thinks back to the start of her parents' relationship and details the events that led to the breakup of her family.

Virginia Kate is a girl haunted by the ghost of her Grandma Faith, her maternal grandmother who was married to an abusive husband and met a sad and violent end. Her mother, Katie, was a beautiful, wild mountain girl who was immediately drawn to Frederick Hale, a door-to-door salesman who loved to quote Shakespeare. The two elope almost immediately, with Grandma Faith initiating their relationship by buying some kitchen items from Frederick and inviting him for dinner, seeing it as a way to get Katie away from her abusive father. Ultimately, they have three children -- Micah, Virginia Kate, and Andy. Virginia Kate loves her parents dearly, but their alcoholism and the frequent arguments that sometimes turn violent are hard for the children to bear.

Tender Graces shows how hard it is to deal with being separated from a parent, having to rebuild your life, and learning who you can trust with your heart. The book also touches upon the definition of family and the mistakes parents make when they just don't know how to do the right thing and how these mistakes can change the course of one's family history. Magendie's writing is wonderful, and she seamlessly moves the narrative from the past to the present and back again. The characters are rich and unique, and it's hard not to like them, even when their decisions leave you heartbroken. Some of the characters are a real treat, like Mee Maw, Virginia Kate's paternal grandmother, who is an awful woman but her antics are as entertaining as they are horrifying. Magendie does a great job with dialogue, and the Southern accents, mannerisms, and culture make you feel as though you are right there in the story. It's hard to believe this is Magendie's first novel.

The tone of the story was sad, with bits of hope peeking through. I fell in love with Virginia Kate, and I didn't want her story to end. Magendie doesn't leave any loose ends hanging -- though they're not all tied up neatly, which I like -- but I can't stop myself from wondering what happens to everyone afterward. I highly recommend Tender Graces, and I know it will make my list of favorite books for the year.

Tender Graces also was reviewed by:

S. Krishna's Books
Pudgy Penguin Perusals
Stone SouP

If you've also reviewed it, let me know in the comments, and I'll add your link!

Disclosure:  I received a free copy of Tender Graces from Bell Bridge Books for review purposes.

That Went Well by Terrell Harris Dougan

Terrell Harris Dougan, a former columnist for the Deseret News and winner of the National Federation of Press Women's Best Humor Column award, covers more than six decades of her life living with and caring for her younger sister Irene in That Went Well: Adventures in Caring for My Sister. Irene was born with mental disabilities, and tests showed that she has an IQ of 57 and an emotional age of 3. Caring for Irene is a major challenge, given her temper tantrums and sometimes violent outbursts, but Dougan stepped up to the plate and eventually became an advocate for the mentally disabled. She even went as far as designing a private home program for Irene when all the other places she lived after leaving their parents' home didn't work out.

Dougan expresses frustration at times, but she focuses on acceptance. Her love for Irene shines through in her writing, and it's obvious that she doesn't want people to feel sorry for them. Dougan has a happy life with her husband, children, and grandchildren, and despite her disability, Irene is happy and loved by many people. Dougan tells stories about Irene in a humorous tone, from trying to buy a shopping cart full of candy for just $2 to stealing pricey oils from the incense factory where she worked to sell for $1 in a yard sale. Just as people reach out to her, Irene reaches out to others, and I loved reading about Irene's desire to bring Christmas presents to children in the hospital.

I don't read a lot of memoirs, but I'm glad I read That Went Well. Dougan's writing flows as though she's sitting right next to you reminiscing, and when I turned the last page, I felt like I'd known her and Irene for years. The book made me think about happiness and what it means to different people and our expectations for others. It gave me a new respect for the mentally disabled and their caregivers. Readers with friends or relatives with mental disabilities definitely will want to pick up this book, but I think That Went Well is an important read for everyone in that it aims to raise awareness of people with special needs.

Visit Terrell Harris Dougan's website, That Went Well, for more information about the book, a reading group guide, and resources for people with disabilities.

That Went Well also was reviewed by:

At Home With Books
Bermudaonion's Weblog
Janel's Jumble
Find Your Next Book Here

If you've also reviewed it, let me know in the comments, and I'll add your link!


Disclosure:  I received a free copy of That Went Well from Author Marketing Experts, Inc. for review purposes.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

No beating around the bush with this review -- I absolutely loved this book. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (which I'll abbreviate as Guernsey for the remainder of the review since that title is a mouthful) appears to be a light read at first glance, comprised of letters written by London-based writer Juliet Ashton, her publisher, and the various members of a literary society based in Guernsey, one of the Channel Islands near England. But it is a very deep book that touches upon the horrors of war and the struggles people face when choosing to stand up for what is right despite the threat of death.

The year is 1946. Juliet is known for a column she wrote during World War II to lighten people's moods, which is funny since she's a bit moody (don't ask her about her almost marriage to a soldier who died in the war). She receives a letter from a Mr. Dawsey Adams wondering if she could direct him to a store where he could purchase books by and about Charles Lamb. He contacted Juliet because her name and address were written in the Lamb book he carries with him and has grown to love. Dawsey lives on Guernsey, an island occupied by the Nazis during the war. When Juliet learns through his letter that a roast pig led to the creation of a literary society to avoid punishment by the Nazis for breaking curfew, Juliet gets an idea for a story and begins a correspondence with Dawsey and other members of the literary society.

In Guernsey, Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows created many lovable characters. I immediately liked Juliet, and fell in love with the literary society members right along with her. The letters were beautifully written, and they flowed seamlessly from one to another. Each letter was written in the distinctive voice of a single character, yet put together, they created a rich picture of loss, survival, and joy experienced by the people of Guernsey under Nazi rule.

When Juliet travels to Guernsey and meets the people with whom she has been corresponding, she plans to get enough information to write a book. Her experiences on the island transform her, and her presence changes the people of Guernsey as well. I don't want to go into the plot more than that because this is a gem of a story with many layers that you should peel back for yourself. Guernsey has received rave reviews from many bloggers, and it exceeded my high expectations. If you still haven't read it yet, get your hands on a copy right away. You're in for a real treat.

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The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows is the 8th book I've read for the WWII reading challenge that Serena and I are co-hosting at War Through the Generations.

Disclosure:  I purchased my copy of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.

Giveaway: Follow Me and Other Joanna Scott Books

Hachette is generously offering a 5-pack of Joanna Scott books to one lucky winner as part of the Early Birds Blog Tour for Follow Me. (If you haven't already, you can read my review here.)

The winner will receive:

Follow Me
Liberation
Tourmaline
Everybody Loves Somebody
Make Believe

To enter, leave a comment on this post with an email address. Since the publisher is handling the shipping, the giveaway is open to U.S. and Canada address only, no P.O. boxes.

The giveaway will run until Monday, May 4, at 11:59 pm EST. The winner will be chosen randomly.

I'd like to give a big "thank you" to Hachette for being so generous!

Follow Me by Joanna Scott

Everywhere she went, she was who she was. Even standing there in a quite house: she was the girl the others preferred dead. Too bad for them, she was alive enough to sing at a wedding.

You sure brought down the house, Sally Werner. And now you're standing in the rubble of Mason Jackson's modest life, having made a wreck of things. See how everything you touch falls apart.

The ceiling caves in.
The floor collapses.
And the walls come
tumbling,
tumbling,
tumbling
down.

(from Follow Me, page 75)

In Follow Me, Joanna Scott tells Sally Werner's story as she told it to her granddaughter, Sally. Sally's story begins in the late 1940s, when she is 16-years-old and accepts a motorcycle ride from her cousin, Daniel. They do more than just go on a ride, and Sally finds herself pregnant and unwilling to marry Daniel. After her son is born, she leaves the baby on the kitchen table of her parents' home and flees. Running away becomes the story of Sally's life. Several times throughout the book she meets people randomly, takes advantage of their kindness, and for one reason or another, leaves in a hurry to start over with no real plan for the future. Sally eventually settles down and has a daughter, Penelope, but she continues her quest to find her son -- with some pretty dramatic consequences.

While I didn't really like Sally's character and grew tired of her running away, I found her story interesting. I kept reading because I wanted to know what happened to Sally and her son, and I was curious to hear the end of the story told at the very beginning about Sally's granddaughter's father, who survived a jump from a bridge into the river and then abandons a pregnant Penelope.

Scott is a good writer and a master of descriptions, but it took me a long time to get involved in the story because many of the descriptions seemed unnecessary. The story took a long time to develop, and it felt as though most of the details were being told by the narrator instead of shown through interaction between the characters. Scott's writing style is unique and interesting, ranging from lengthy sentences to sentence fragments to an almost poetic structure, but I think it bogged the story down in some parts. However, I think Follow Me is a good book for readers who enjoy character-driven novels with rich descriptions.

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About Joanna Scott:

Joanna Scott is the author of four novels, including 1997 Pulitzer Prize finalist The Manikin, and a short story collection, Various Antidotes, which was a finalist for the 1995 PEN/Faulkner Award. She has received a MacArthur Fellowship and a Lannan Award. She lives in Rochester, New York.

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Check out some of the other blogs participating in the Hachette Early Birds Blog Tour for Joanna Scott's Follow Me:

Savvy Verse & Wit
Peeking Between the Pages
Bermudaonion's Weblog
Bookopolis
A Bookworm's World
The Tome Traveller's Weblog
drey's library
A Circle of Books
Dan's Journal
2 Kids and Tired Book Reviews
S. Krishna's Books
the epic rat
Cafe of Dreams
danys
Jenn's Bookshelf
Kylee's 2009 Blog
The Burton Review

Disclosure:  I received a free copy of Follow Me from Hachette for review purposes.

Mailbox Monday -- April 27

It's time for another Mailbox Monday, hosted by Marcia from The Printed Page, where we talk about the books we received in the mail, purchased, or otherwise obtained over the last week. I love reading these mailbox posts because I learn about new and interesting titles, though it always adds to my already-too-long wish list.

I received four books this week from Miriam at Hachette. (Thanks Miriam!) They're all written by Joanna Scott:

Liberation (which looks like a good one for the WWII reading challenge)
Tourmaline
Everybody Loves Somebody
Make Believe

I've just finished Scott's Follow Me, and I'm part of the Hachette Early Birds Blog Tour, so look for my review today.

I think my Mailbox Monday posts will be sporadic at best in the coming weeks, as I'm trying to catch up on my review copies and I want to read some of the books already on my shelves before buying any more or making regular library jaunts. (Wish me luck...)

What books did you welcome into your home recently?

Coraline by Neil Gaiman

It sounded like her mother. Coraline went into the kitchen, where the voice had come from. A woman stood in the kitchen with her back to Coraline. She looked a little like Coraline's mother. Only...

Only her skin was white as paper.

Only she was taller and thinner.

Only her fingers were too long, and they never stopped moving, and her dark red fingernails were curved and sharp.

"Coraline?" the woman asked. "Is that you?"

And then she turned around. Her eyes were big black buttons. (from Coraline, pages 27-28)

The Girl and I started Neil Gaiman's Coraline a few months ago, then life got in the way and it sat on the coffee table waiting to be finished. We decided to complete it during the recent Read-a-Thon, and I'm glad we did because I enjoyed it.

Coraline is a young girl adjusting to a new home. Her parents are always working and don't seem to have any time to entertain her. She visits her neighbors, former actresses Miss Spink and Miss Forcible, and wonders about the old man living in the attic apartment who claims to have a mouse circus. Coraline basically wanders around feeling bored and neglected. While exploring, she finds a door in the drawing room, which opens onto a brick wall. Eventually, as all curious children would do, Coraline opens the door, finds a dark hallway, and walks through it to another home that mirrors her own.

Waiting in this identical home is Coraline's Other Mother and Other Father, seemingly perfect except for the black button eyes -- which they want to sew to Coraline's face so she can be their daughter and live with them forever. Coraline eventually makes her way back to her real home to discover that her real parents are missing. With the help of a talking cat, Coraline must play the Other Mother's evil games to find her parents and get her old life back. But the Other Mother has plans, and they don't involve playing fair.

Coraline is a dark and creepy book, and while The Girl and I wished it had been scarier, we enjoy creepy stories, too. Coraline made me think back to the days when I thought my parents were too busy for me. I know now that wasn't the case, but it felt that way sometimes as a kid. I thought Coraline was a strong character, as she rose to the challenges presented by the Other Mother despite the fact that she was frightened. The book had enough action to hold our attention until the end, but I wish there had been more about the origins of the Other Mother. Nevertheless, I thought it was a decent book with a unique plot. I definitely plan to read another book by Gaiman in the future.

Here's what The Girl (age 8) had to say:

I think this book is very good. My favorite part was when Coraline tossed the cat at the Other Mother. Another part I thought was good was when she ran out of the cellar. I thought this book was good because it was kind of scary.


Coraline also was reviewed by:

Wrighty's Reads
Bermudaonion's Weblog
The Infinite Shelf
The Curious Reader

If you've also reviewed it, let me know in the comments, and I'll add your link!

Disclosure:  We purchased our copy of Coraline.



and

Giveaway: The Crimes of Paris by Dorothy and Thomas Hoobler

From the back cover:

A chronicle of the most spectacular crimes of Belle Epoque Paris -- including the theft of the Mona Lisa -- and the detective who used science to try to solve them.

Turn-of-the-century Paris was the beating heart of a rapidly changing world. Painters, scientists, revolutionaries, poets -- all were there. But so, too, were the shadows: Paris was a violent, criminal place, its sinister alleyways the haunts of "Apache" gangsters and its cafes the gathering places of murderous anarchists. In 1911, it fell victim to perhaps the greatest theft of all time: the taking of the Mona Lisa from the Louvre. Immediately, Alphonse Bertillon, a detective world renowned for pioneering crime-scene investigation techniques, was called upon to solve the crime. And quickly the Paris police had a suspect: a young Spanish artist who called himself Pablo Picasso...

I received a copy of The Crimes of Paris: A True Story of Murder, Theft, and Detection by Dorothy and Thomas Hoobler from Hachette Book Group. I don't normally read non-fiction like this, but I'm intrigued and I can't wait to read it.

Hachette is generously offering 5 copies of The Crimes of Paris to my readers. To enter, please leave a comment on this post and an email address. If I don't have a way to contact you if you win, you won't be entered. Since the publisher is handling the shipping, this giveaway is open to U.S. and Canada addresses only, no P.O. boxes.

The giveaway will run until Friday, May 1, at 11:59 pm EST.

Thank You!

Missy from Missy's Book Nook has given me the Lovely Blog Award. Thank you so much! I'm honored!

Serena from Savvy Verse & Wit has given me the Enchanted Blog award. Thank you so much!

Serena also gave me the Friendly Blogger award! Thanks! I really appreciate it!

I'm so bad at narrowing down my choices for these awards. I love so many blogs that it's just too hard. So if I visit your blog regularly, just know that I love your blog!

Bella from Bella is reading... has given me the You Don't Say? award for commenting on her blog. Thanks! I really enjoy reading your blog. I'm going to pass this one on to everyone who takes time out of their busy day to visit Diary of an Eccentric. I appreciate you more than you know!

My Book Buddy Is My New Best Friend!

When Mandy from Reading Comfort asked if I'd be willing to try out the Book Buddy and talk about it on my blog, I didn't hesitate. A beautiful pillow that leaves my hands free to knit while I read...I'm there! And I like to read in bed, but I don't like having to sit in weird positions to juggle the book. Worst of all is the loud crash when the book slips out of my hands and hits the floor if I doze off.

After neatly peeling away the yellow tissue paper wrapped around the package (which was a great touch), I squealed with joy. My Book Buddy came in the Papillon Gold design (the exact one in the picture), which is almost a perfect match to the comforter on my bed. I hoped that was a sign that my reading-in-bed problems were coming to an end.

To use the Book Buddy, you simply slip the front and back covers of the book under the middle straps, and the side straps hold the pages in place. The ribbons are adjustable, which makes it possible to use the Book Buddy with virtually any book. I've used it with a hardcover and a trade paperback, and it worked just fine. I haven't tried it with a mass market paperback, but I'm thinking that might not work as well. (If anyone has tried it, please let me know!)

The ribbons seem to be attached very well to the pillow, which is great because I'm all about good quality and long-lasting products. The only problem that I found with the Book Buddy is...well, me. See, my OCD issues mean I like everything perfect and just so. I think I spent more time adjusting the ribbons (making sure they were perfectly straight and not twisted, of course) than reading. :) Once I was situated, though, I soon learned that reading in bed can be fun and comfortable. I can keep the Book Buddy in my lap if I'm sitting up, I can rest it against my knees, and even lean it up against another pillow so I can read while lying on my stomach.

The Book Buddy also comes with a clear acrylic writing desk, which can be slipped under the side straps. I used it for writing, and I liked it. I can see myself one day using the Book Buddy as a laptop pillow, too.

I highly recommend the Book Buddy, and the wide variety of colors and designs means there is something for everyone.

I'd like to give a big thanks to Mandy from Reading Comfort for sending me my Book Buddy, and those of you who have the Book Buddy, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Giveaway: Girls in Trucks by Katie Crouch

From the back cover:

Never chase men or buses. Don't let yourself be seen in a truck in town. These are the simple rules passed down through generations of Camellias, one of the oldest debutante societies in Charleston. Sarah Walters is a member of this antiquated club -- whether she likes it or not. The society is a privilege one is born to, and it offers rules of etiquette meant to prepare a girl for a charmed life with an appropriate husband. The only problem is, Sarah has a tendency to make life choices that are anything but polite. With biting humor and keen observations, Katie Crouch takes Sarah from a sweaty-palmed eighth grader at Cotillion dancing lessons to a slightly numb thirty-five-year-old living in New York City. It takes a strange turn of events to make Sarah realize that as much as she tries to deny it, where she comes from will always affect where she ends up.

I received a copy of Girls in Trucks by Katie Crouch from Hachette Book Group, and they're generously offering 5 copies to my readers. This looks like a good one, and I can't wait to read it.

To enter this giveaway, please comment on this post and leave an email address. If I don't have a way to contact you if you win, you won't be entered. Since the publisher is handling the shipping, this giveaway is open to U.S. and Canada addresses only, no P.O. boxes.

The giveaway will run until Friday, May 1, at 11:59 pm EST.

The Lost Hours by Karen White

"…I had remembered the words my grandmother had told me long ago that I thought I’d forgotten. Every woman should have a daughter to tell her stories to. Otherwise, the lessons learned are as useless as spare buttons from a discarded shirt. And all that is left is a fading name and the shape of a nose or the color of hair. The men who write the history books will tell you the stories of battles and conquests. But the women will tell you the stories of people’s hearts." (from The Lost Hours, page 24)

After reading and enjoying Karen White’s The House on Tradd Street last year (my review is here in case you missed it), I was delighted to be part of the blog tour for The Lost Hours. I really enjoy Southern fiction with strong female characters, and White does not disappoint.

The Lost Hours tells the story of Piper Mills, a champion equestrian whose Olympic dreams were shattered with a near-fatal fall from her horse during an event. She’d suffered a lot of heartache in her life already, beginning with the death of her parents when she was six. She grew up with her grandparents, and the book opens right after her grandfather’s funeral. Piper’s grandmother, with whom she's never had a close relationship, is in a nursing home suffering from Alzheimer’s. The family attorney presents Piper with some unopened letters her grandmother sent to her estranged childhood friend, along with a key to a secret attic room. To learn more about her grandmother’s past, she turns to her grandmother’s childhood friend, Lillian, who is reluctant to discuss the events that caused their falling out. She meets Lillian’s grieving grandson, Tucker, his daughters, and his blind sister, Helen, who sees more than people think she does and quickly became my favorite character in the book.

In The Lost Hours, White presents some complex, well-rounded characters, and she doesn’t shy away from their faults. They each have obstacles they must overcome, events that changed their lives for better or worse, and they must work through these challenges and peel away the layers of the past so they can heal and move forward. White’s writing is wonderful, and she flawlessly shifts between Piper’s first person narrative and the third person narrative that gives you a glimpse of the other characters' thoughts and emotions. I think this structure works best for this story, allowing you to see things Piper’s way while giving you the opportunity to see where her perception is lacking. The story of the relationship between Piper’s grandmother and Lillian and the secrets they carried with them over decades lends a bit of suspense to the story, and White’s descriptions of horses and gardening really pull you into the scene. This is a must-read for lovers of Southern fiction, as well as those who enjoy well-written stories about family secrets and the bonds between women.


The Lost Hours also was reviewed by:

Book Addiction
The Friendly Book Nook
Bookfoolery and Babble
Review From Here
The Tome Traveller's Weblog
Cafe of Dreams
S. Krishna's Books
Confessions of a Bibliophile
Peeking Between the Pages
Stone SouP
Jenn's Bookshelf
Popin's Lair

If you've also reviewed it, let me know in the comments, and I'll add your link!


Disclosure:  I received a free copy of The Lost Hours from the publisher for review purposes.

Memory by Philippe Grimbert

I made up for finishing only 2 books during the Read-a-Thon by reading all of Philippe Grimbert's novel (really a novella) Memory during my Monday morning commute. The story grabbed me from the first page, and I flew through the 153 pages in a little over an hour. There are so many layers to this story that it's really hard to put my thoughts into words, but I loved it and want you all to love it, too, so I will try.

Memory is dubbed a novel, but as the narrator shares the same name as the author and ultimately the same profession -- a psychoanalyst -- it is uncertain how much truth there is to the story. The narrator was born after World War II to French Jews who survived the Nazi Occupation by fleeing to a rural area outside the demarcation line and changed their name from Grinberg to Grimbert to disguise their Jewish roots. He knows he has an older brother who is dead but never mentioned, and he invents an imaginary brother to take his place. As a teenager, he learns that his parents have been hiding the truth about their past, and this is where the Holocaust story comes in to play. Because he is told his parents' story by a neighbor and close friend and cannot approach his parents about what he's learned, he doesn't know what his parents were doing, thinking, and feeling during the war. So he fills in the gaps, and the memory he invents ultimately becomes his truth.

Originally written in French and published with the title Secret, Memory was translated by Polly McLean. I was worried that the book might lose something in the translation, but the prose flowed beautifully and wrapped me up in a heartbreaking story of love and loss that would not let go. Here are some of my favorite passages:

We've always had that name, he would snap. That much was obvious and not to be contradicted: our name could be traced right back to the Middle Age--wasn't Grimbert a hero of the Roman de Renart? An m for an n, a t for a g; two tiny changes. But of course M for mute hid the N of Nazism, while G for ghosts vanished under taciturn T. (page 9)

My parents' story, which in my first tale I had imagined so straightforward, became tortuous. Blindly I followed its path, on an exodus that took me away from those I loved toward unfamiliar faces. I walked a road full of murmurs, now able to make out the corpses laid out on the verge. (page 59)

The enemy can no longer simply be distinguished by gray-green uniforms and long raincoats; it may also be hidden beneath the shiny cuffs of local government employees or the capes of policemen, the authority of police chiefs, or even the friendly gaze of one's neighbors. The big platform buses that took city dwellers to work and dropped passengers at parks and cinemas will soon become heavy with cargoes of men and women loaded with bundles of belongings. The small buses that used to take excited families on their holidays now stop in front of buildings in the early hours, sowing terror. (page 81)

I found Memory to be a very sad book, but I loved it because it gave me a lot to ponder. The prose is sparse; we don't get a lot of character or scene descriptions, but Grimbert says a lot about the narrator and his parents -- or at least how the narrator perceives his parents -- in so few pages. There's the Holocaust aspect to the story, lending a heaviness to the narrative, but it also raises a lot of questions about how much we really know about our families and how far we are willing to go to protect our loved ones from the pain of the truth.

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Today is Holocaust Remembrance Day, when we take time to remember the 6 million Jews killed during World War II. Serena and I wrote up a post on our War Through the Generations blog about some of the events taking place today to honor the memories of the Holocaust victims. We hope you will check it out.

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Memory by Philippe Grimbert is the 7th book I've completed for our WWII Reading Challenge at War Through the Generations.

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Memory also was reviewed by:

The Boston Bibliophile

If you've also reviewed it, let me know in the comments, and I'll add your link!

Disclosure:  I purchased my copy of Memory.

Conversations and Connections 2009: Writing Conference Wrap Up

Serena and I attended the Conversations and Connections: Practical Advice on Getting Published conference on Saturday, April 11, in Washington, D.C. As she's already posted a pretty comprehensive account of our day complete with pictures (I can't believe I let her post a picture of me), I won't bore all of you by repeating the details. I'll just talk about my thoughts and feelings about the day and what I got out of the conference.

I don't like crowds or walking all over the city in cold rain, and I tend to avoid D.C. unless I'm traveling through on my way to work or taking friends and family on a tour. But I braved the rain and the flood of tourists eager to see the cherry blossoms to attend the conference because I'd like to finish my novel before I die. I've been a writer for as long as I can remember, and it seems like I've been working on this book and living with the characters inside my head for as long as I can remember. I've managed to put a little bit of their stories on paper, but they're not content to sit in my head any longer and need to get out. I was thrilled that the conference organizers replaced some of the panel discussions with craft lectures, and I jumped at the chance to get out of my writing rut.

We attended session on point of view, writer's block, and writing sex scenes, and I was glad to learn some things I can actually put to use in my writing. (Last year it seemed as though the whole conference was published writers simply discussing their individual experiences, which didn't help me much considering that I didn't have a finished novel to market. I needed help with the writing so I could have a finished novel.)

Anyway, I've already started writing more in the little time I have after work, family obligations, household stuff, blogging, and reading. (And my husband wonders why I don't sleep much!) I don't want to impose a deadline on myself to complete the book because that would be disastrous, but I needed some motivation and now I know how to get something on the paper even if it's not something I can use in my book.

I opted not to do speed dating with the editors this year because I didn't have any snippets from my novel that I wanted to share (but I made Serena show part of hers just to prove to her that it's a good start...I was right, of course...hee hee), I haven't worked at all on the short story I brought last year, and I don't write poetry anymore. The only thing I would change about the conference is to get rid of the featured speaker slot and add another craft lecture.

All-in-all, I had a wonderful, inspirational, motivational day (complete with tortellini and chicken from Bertucci's because it's mostly about writing but also a lot about the food LOL). Now I just have to work on creating some non-negotiable writing time when the hubby and The Girl know not to bother me. That'll be a challenge, but I know it has to be done if I'm ever going to finish writing this book. Wish me luck!

Giveaway: The Traitor's Wife by Susan Higginbotham

I have an extra copy of The Traitor's Wife by Susan Higginbotham in my possession, courtesy of Paul Samuelson of Sourcebooks.

To enter to win, please leave a comment with your email address. If you don't leave your email address and I have no way to contact you, you will not be entered.

This giveaway is open to readers everywhere and will run through Friday, May 1 at 11:59 pm EST.

To learn more about The Traitor's Wife, read my review here and my interview with the author here.

Interview with Susan Higginbotham, author of The Traitor's Wife

Today I have the pleasure of welcoming Susan Higginbotham, author of The Traitor's Wife, to Diary of an Eccentric. I'd like to thank Susan for taking time out of her busy schedule to answer my questions and for helping broaden my horizons when it comes to reading historical fiction. If you haven't already, please read my review of The Traitor's Wife, where you can learn more about this amazing book and find links to other reviews.


Welcome, Susan! What inspired you to write The Traitor's Wife?

One evening I was surfing through the Internet, and I lit upon an online version of Christopher Marlowe's Edward the Second. I had read it in graduate school and had enjoyed it, but upon re-reading it, I became fascinated by the historical background and began reading everything I could about Edward II and his reign. Along the way, I discovered Eleanor de Clare and her fascinating life, and I felt compelled to write her story. I had another novel in progress at the time--a sort of prequel to Romeo and Juliet--and this project completely shoved the other one aside.

How long did it take to write the book?

About two years. I work full-time, so I did most of my writing in the evening, and most of that between 10:00 p.m. and 1:00 a.m.

Do you have a special place where you write?

I wouldn't call it a special place, because it's not at all what Virginia Woolf envisioned when she said that every woman should have a room of one's own! We have a small house, so I write in a corner of the kitchen where my PC is set up. It's not a pretty sight.

Do you listen to music while you write? If so, what songs help get the creative juices flowing?

I find that listening to music distracts me when I'm writing fiction, so I don't have any music on. I do, however, find that listening to music when I'm not actually writing can get me pumped up about writing later. There are certain songs that I associate with different characters or different episodes in my books--some classical, some pop, some rock and roll. They'll get me thinking about my story when I'm driving--though sometimes Driving While Imagining can be hazardous.

What's the best book you read recently?

I'd say that was Manhunt by James Swanson, a nonfiction book about the search for John Wilkes Booth following Lincoln's assassination. Swanson did an excellent job of building suspense and of bringing all of the historical figures involved to life.

There's been a lot of discussion in the blogosphere about historical accuracy in historical fiction. What are your thoughts on this?

I'm for it! Seriously, I think it's very important that a writer strive to be as historically accurate as possible. Everyone, including me, is going to make mistakes--even historians make errors in their published works--but writers should try as hard as possible to get things right. For some readers, historical fiction is the only way they'll ever become acquainted with a given subject or person, so I think a writer should have a respect for the past and for its people.

I'm not the sort of reader who will go berserk if I see a character wearing, say, slashed sleeves twenty years before they came into fashion, but I do get very ticked off when a writer deliberately smears a historical figure's reputation just to make another character look better or to prove a pet theory--especially when the character is a lesser known one and the facts can't readily be checked. At the very least, the author should have the decency to come clean about it in an author's note.

Are you working on another book? If so, any hints as to what it's about?

I'm close to finishing the first draft of a novel, set during the Wars of the Roses, about Henry, Duke of Buckingham, and his wife, Katherine Woodville, sister to Edward IV's queen. Henry is best known for helping Richard III to the throne and then for abruptly turning against him, and he's also one of the prime suspects in the murder of the Princes in the Tower. Katherine and other members of the Woodville family have been much maligned by historical novelists in the last few decades, and I think it's high time for a novel that shows the events of the Wars of the Roses from their perspective.

With regard to writing, what's the best piece of advice you've received?

This is a hard question to answer, for some reason. I've absorbed so much advice over the years that I really can't single out one statement, but if I had to give one piece of advice myself, it would be to keep writing, no matter what. Even if all you can manage at this point in your life is sending out updates on Twitter, at least you're writing something. Don't give up.

Thanks so much, Susan! I can't wait for the release of Hugh and Bess. I'll definitely be reading that one.

Check out Susan's website here.
Check out Susan's blog here.
Check out the Wars of the Roses Message Board here.

Mailbox Monday -- April 20

I'm still tired from the Read-a-Thon, and I was thankful for a lazy Sunday. But now it's the start of a new week and time for another Mailbox Monday, hosted by Marcia at The Printed Page.

Here's a list of the books I received and will be reading soon:

Annie's Ghosts by Steve Luxenberg (from LibraryThing Early Reviewers)

Nella Last's Peace: The Post-War Diaries of Housewife, 49 edited by Patricia & Robert Malcolmson and Our Longest Days: People's History of the Second World War edited by Sandra Koa Wing (from Meryl Zegarek Public Relations Inc.)

Let the Shadows Fall Behind You by Kathy-Diane Leveille (from the author)

I also received a Book Buddy from Reading Comfort/Amanda Crawford Designs, which I'll be reviewing later this week. I used it all through the Read-a-Thon, so it's been through a lot already. Click here to see the design I received.

What books did you welcome into your home recently?

Dewey's Read-a-Thon Wrap Up

The Read-a-Thon is over, and The Girl and I had a great time. Serena came over and joined us for several hours, and we had a blast reading, rushing to the computer to see about the next mini-challenge when we needed a break, watching Twilight, and listening to The Girl jabber on about her books and the Wii game she was playing "hardcore." (I still get a kick out of her use of that word.)

I'm very proud of The Girl and all that she accomplished during the Read-a-Thon. She was my own personal cheerleader, she participated in the Comic mini-challenge, and she read 11 books (10 on her own, and 1 with me)! She had grand plans of staying up past midnight, and I was okay with that as long as she was reading. She fell asleep on the couch with a book in her hand around 10:30 p.m. She woke when I covered her up, and she cuddled with me, finished her book, and started snoozing.

At that point, I had The Girl sleeping on top of me and hubby in the reclining chair snoring, and it was hard to stay awake. Thankfully, Serena called me a couple of times, and I extricated myself from The Girl to get a snack. Unfortunately, I was only able to hold out til midnight. I woke up on the couch with The Girl's feet on my lap at 5:30 a.m., and I read until 8 when the Read-a-Thon ended. I only finished 2 books during the Read-a-Thon; I'd hoped to read more, but I'm happy with my accomplishments because my only goal was to have fun and I definitely achieved that.

Here's what we read:

Together we finished Coraline by Neil Gaiman. We'd started this one around the time the movie came out, and we had a little over 80 pages to finish. (Stay tuned for our joint review)

I started and finished The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. I loved it, and I'll be posting my review soon.

The Girl didn't read any of the chapter books she pulled out and put in a special pile. (She started an Ivy & Bean book, but she was too tired to get very far.) She chose books at random from her "easy" pile and enjoyed them. Here's her list:

Drive Thru by Erica David (This is a SpongeBob book...just wait, you'll see her reading theme!)
The SpongeBob Squarepants Movie: Bubble Blowers Beware! by David Lewman
SpongeBob Squarepants: Hands Off! by David Lewman
SpongeBob Squarepants: Behold, No Cavities! by Sarah Willson
SpongeBob and the Princess by David Lewman
Scooby-Doo!: The Scary Safari by Gail Herman
Fox in Socks by Dr. Seuss
Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss
Bad Kitty by Nick Bruel
Poor Puppy by Nick Bruel

The Girl already wants to participate in the next Read-a-Thon, and that's fine by me. I love that she loves to read. Next time, I just hope I can concentrate on reading and maybe finish more books. I think my excitement was the biggest distraction because she wasn't all that bad, just a typical 8-year-old.

Thanks to everyone who stopped by to wish us luck and cheer us on. That really meant a lot to us.

And a special thanks to the Read-a-Thon hosts, cheerleaders, and mini-challenge hosts!

Dewey's Read-a-Thon: Mid-Event Survey

We're at the start of hour 13. The Girl is doing pretty good; she's read 7 books so far. She's been taking a lot of breaks, but hey, she's 8. Right now she's playing Mario baseball on the Wii (she keeps telling us she's playing "hardcore," and I'm not sure where she learned that word LOL), the men are out getting pizza, and Serena is lounging on the couch reading.

I'm not reading as fast as I'd like, but I'm having lots of fun. I'm about halfway through The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, and I at least hope to finish that book before I crash. I pulled out 10 books from which to choose, but I knew I'd be lucky to get through 1. But I'm fine with that since my only goal was to enjoy the day.

Anyway, I thought I'd participate in the Mid-Event Survey, so here goes:

1. What are you reading right now?

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. It's really good, and I wish I was reading as fast as I normally do on the train.

2. How many books have you read so far?

Um...I finished Coraline with The Girl this morning. Guernsey is my second book for the day. Let's hope I actually finish it.

3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon?

I just want to finish the book I'm reading now. I have a whole stack of great-sounding books that I won't get to.

4. Did you have to make any special arrangements to free up your whole day?

Not really. Just had to make sure hubby was willing to take care of the household chores. So far, so good. :)

5. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those?

Well, The Girl is an interruption, but she's not too bad. She'll read a book, then go play for a bit, then come back. The men are chatting, but it's not so bad. The biggest distraction was Serena popping Twilight into the DVD player to entertain The Girl. I've seen the movie 4 times and I thought I could block it out and read, but I wasn't that strong. LOL

6. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far?

That it's so hard to stay focused. But I figured it would be a challenge with a kid in the house.

7. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?

Not at this point. I'm having a great time.

8. What would you do differently, as a Reader or a Cheerleader, if you were to do this again next year?

Spend more time reading and unplug the DVD player.

9. Are you getting tired yet?

Um...I haven't had a single weekend nap. I did doze off for about 30 seconds, but woke myself up with a snore. That cracked Serena up. But I find that checking out the hourly updates and blogging here and there gets me going again.

10. Do you have any tips for other Readers or Cheerleaders, something you think is working well for you that others may not have discovered?

Really, I don't think I'm qualified to offer advice since I'm a first-timer and I'm still on book 2. LOL But I will say having fun is the most important.

Not sure when the next update will come, but if I fall asleep, I'll be sure to post a wrap up when everything's said and done.

For those of you in the midst of the read-a-thon, I hope you're having a good time and making good progress toward your goal! And for those of you cheering us on, thanks so much!