Well, when Judy Blume recommends a book, you know what you're supposed to do, right?

A month ago, I had a chance to read the quietly emotional and beautiful Fingerprints of You, by debut author Kristen-Paige Madonia. After meeting her at the Virginia Festival of the Book earlier this year, I'm so thankful I had a chance to interact with this gifted author who has so much to give for readers. I was touched by the story of a pregnant teenager who takes the journey to San Francisco to meet her absent father, and I look forward to her next book. Here, she shares insights on finding her own approval to cherish this time with her first book. Scroll below to see this week's upcoming events of where she'll be and then all the way at the bottom is the giveaway!

Notes from the Road: Permission Not to Write

Last spring, shortly before my debut novel FINGERPRINTS OF YOU was released, I was fortunate enough to meet with the brilliant Ben Percy for brunch in Washington, DC. Ben is notorious for his booming voice and his down-to-earth no-nonsense attitude, both characteristics that come in handy for an author who works as a professor and often books high-profile appearances at conferences and literary events.

I don't know Ben well, but a mutual friend introduced us and we’ve crossed paths a handful of times, so I was looking forward to spending the afternoon with such a talented and established author. I was six months short of my pub date for FINGERPRINTS OF YOU, and I wanted advice. I was hungry for suggestions on how to launch my career in the best way possible, but more importantly, if truth be told, I wanted to talk craft. I was working through the last hundred pages of the first draft of a new novel, and while I was glad for any insight into the business-side of writing that he could provide, I was mostly excited to talk to him about my new book. I've never had the opportunity to study with Ben, but I've read and loved everything he's written, and I wanted guidance. I wanted to ask about his writing habits, wanted to vent my concerns about my new novel, and wanted to hear about the speed-bumps and triumphs he’d been through during his process of writing and editing all those wonderful books and stories.

Over coffee and scrambled eggs I talked nervously about the central characters in my new novel. I told him about the plot, the problems it still had and the vision I'd conceived for the book. I voiced my concerns and confessed that I believed that, eventually, just maybe, this new project had the potential to be my finest work.

And finally, loudly, in that voice he’s so well known for, Ben interrupted: "You do know you need to stop writing this book soon,” he said.

I know a lot of writers, have wined and dined with the best of them at writing conferences and residences all over the United States, and no one, not one, has ever told me to stop writing. Stop writing?

But he went on. And reluctantly I listened… 

I spent four years working on FINGERPRINTS OF YOU and had tirelessly contacted bookstores and universities to arrange readings and school visits. I’d applied and been accepted to numerous conferences and festivals for the fall and had arranged a slew of events and road trips to help promote the book. It was what I wanted and planned for, and rightfully so I had decided not to teach or work my “day job” for the first six months after the book was released. With the help of my publisher, I created a whirlwind book tour (http://kristenpaigemadonia.com/events-readings/) that I was truly looking forward to. A book tour that included long train and plane trips, nights at hotels alone, and days in cities where I didn’t know many people: Free time, I thought, I could spend working on my new novel. But I was completely wrong.

FINGERPRINTS OF YOU has now been available for a little over 8 weeks, though it’s been almost four months since I’ve worked on that new book. Thanks to my amazing friends, I’ve had three launch parties since the book came out, and thanks to all that planning I did, I’ve participated in events in fifteen different cities so far. I’ve written interview answers and guest blogs and website content for a wide variety of venues, but Ben was right, in the end I had to stop writing the new novel about a month before my pub date. I quickly learned that talking about one book to students and readers while writing a different book just doesn’t work. It’s like cheating on a boyfriend. Or checking email when talking the phone to a family member. Or on-line shopping on your laptop when attending a lecture. It’s not fair or respectful to that first book or the characters and the world inside those pages. It’s also not fair to yourself, to work so hard and so long and then enter a book tour with half of your heart inside another book.

So I’ve got my new novel “in the drawer,” as they say. The manuscript exists but sits quietly while I’m out on the road. It’s a rough draft, a messy collection of chapters and characters that need to be rewritten, reeled in, and fine-tuned. But I know that now is not the time to try and fix it. And when people ask, as they always do during Q&A, “What are you working on now?” I keep it short and simple: “I’m working on enjoying this,” I say, clutching my copy of FINGERPIRINTS OF YOU. I’m working on giving myself permission not to write that other book. I’m allowing myself to slow down and to take all of it in, this business of being a writer, and I’m gladly having one final fling with FINGERPRINTS OF YOU: our book-tour. 

Thank you, Kristen-Paige, for stopping by! I eagerly await your next novel. Until then, my reading and blogging friends, please check out this week's events in California:

• Wednesday, October 3rd: Chapman University in Orange, California
• Thursday, October 4th: CSULB in Long Beach, California
• For future events, click here.

GIVEAWAY! (For US residents only, due to shipping costs.)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Holiday Giveaway Number 2! I had some challenges earlier with posting (completely user error!), so here goes again. Click the "Read More" link at the bottom to access the Rafflecopter entry form.

Here are the details:

• This is open to U.S. residents only as I'm personally shipping this package to the winner
• One entry per person
• The giveaway closes Sunday morning, January 8, 2012 at 12 midnight EST (New York GMT)

Here are the books that you can win!

They are:

• Before I Fall, by Lauren Oliver
• Wither, by Lauren DeStefano
• The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, by Michelle Hodkin (ARC copy)
• Let the Right One In, by John Ajvide Lindqvist
• Skipping a Beat, by Sarah Pekkanen

Click on the "Read More" link at the bottom of this post to get to the Rafflecopter entry form. Rafflecopter seems pretty simple to enter your details. You can either login with Facebook, or login with an email address. Then, click on the +1 to enter your name, and then the next +1 to enter your email address. If you win, I'll connect with you to get your mailing address.

Read more »

Click Here... are you on Pinterest, too?

A quick post for the winner of Holiday Giveaway Number 1 ~ Ellen from Fat Books & Thin Women! I don't know if she's in Albania or New Jersey right now, but the following books in the below picture are going in the mail this week! Congratulations!

In an effort to rid my shelves (and to give you all a gift), I'm planning to do a round of giveaways this month (and maybe next month, too). The winner of this Holiday Giveaway # 1 will receive all of the books in this picture.

Each of these five books were discussed or reviewed here on the blog. You do not need to have a blog or be a follower of this blog to win these books. Entries must be posted in the Google docs form by Sunday, December 11, 2011.

1. The Ruins, by Scott Smith
2. The Life You've Imagined, by Kristina Riggle
3. Raven Stole the Moon, by Garth Stein
4. The Oracle of Stamboul, by Michael David Lukas
5. Exit the Actress, by Priya Parmar

Fill out the Google Form below (bear with me, it's my first time using this form!):

The amazing Library of Congress

I'm so thrilled to announce the winners to Ruta Sepetys' brilliant and heartbreaking Young Adult novel, Between Shades of Gray. This story provides insight into a piece of history that sadly, seems to be one that is rarely ever discussed. You can read my review of the book by clicking here, and read my interview with the author by clicking here.

Congratulations go out to the following winners:

• Amanda with The Zen Leaf
• Sandy with You've Gotta Read This!

I'm looking forward to your thoughts!

Happy Reading,
Coffee and a Book Chick

Brockport @ 175

Liz Michalski's Evenfall is out THIS MONTH! So if you didn't win it in this giveaway, please stop on by any bookstore to flip through the book. I think you might be excited to bring it home! Read my full review by clicking here.

Congratulations to...

marthalama at Hey, I Want to Read That!

I've sent you an email requesting address. And then all you need to do is read it, then review it!

Happy Reading,
Coffee and a Book Chick

Guess what happens next week?  Evenfall by Liz Michalski is finally in stores!

The cover alone is a beautiful work of art, right?  And if you even have the slightest inkling and interest in stories dealing with regret, love, loss, history, ghosts...then you should probably rush to your local bookstore and pick up debut author Liz Michalski's Evenfall, which is scheduled for release next week.  And you might not like the book, instead you might actually love it.  Like me.

I cannot gush enough about this story.  Can you sense it?

I was so fortunate to pick her book up at the SIBA Trade Show in Daytona Beach last year, and the cover alone compelled me to read it immediately. Then the characters, the setting, the story, regret, love...it resonated with me and I wanted more.  There was such a unique way the three characters were weaved into each of their own chapters told from their perspectives - including Frank, a ghost who has a deep regret still felt.  You can read my full review by clicking here.

Farm Lane Book Blogs wrote a recent post about why she loves debut authors, and I completely agree.  Visit her site by clicking here.

INTERNATIONAL GIVEAWAY

Please leave a comment with your email address.

You don't have to be a follower of the blog or Twitter...you don't even have to tweet about it or anything...

BUT...I love feeling the love.  So, leave an extra comment each time you do tweet or blog about it to up your chances...

Entries accepted through this Sunday, January 30, 2011.

Liz Michalski, debut author of Evenfall

Liz Michalski was kind enough to participate in an interview and I'm so excited to share with you this author - I cannot recommend this book highly enough, and implore you to pick up the book when you are next in the store, read the jacket, flip through the pages...it will pull you in.

And for those who attend her book signings or send an email to this address with a picture of themselves and their copy of the book?  She's giving out a url and code which, when you jump onto her haunting and whimsical website to find the "secret" pages, you'll get even more of the backstory of Evenfall!

Author Interview

1. Evenfall deals with several different themes such as love, regret, death, family - what specifically compelled you to craft a story about all of these elements?

The story evolved over an extended period of time, and really just kept growing. Looking back, I think part of my inspiration was that I knew I'd be leaving the small rural town I'd been living in for the past 10 years. It was the best move for my family, but at the same time there were a lot of things I knew I'd miss. I was able to draw on those emotions for my characters, who wind up missing a lot of the things I did.

2. I think Frank was my favorite character! In the story, Frank is a ghost and still living in his house - his regret is so apparent and thoughtful, and it was easy to see that these emotions were so incredibly strong that he still maintained an "existence" after his death. How did you decide that one of the primary characters would be a ghost?

The whole first line of the novel popped into my head one morning in the shower, but I had no idea what to do with it, or who Frank was. But a few weeks later, I was viewing a house -- one of my freelance jobs was as a real estate writer -- and it had the most amazing attic, dry and peaceful and resembling a ship. The agent I was touring with told me it was possible that shipwrights had built it. From there, Frank just kind of moved in and took up residence. 

3. The afterlife is always a debatable topic, but it's important to many people who have lost loved ones. Sometimes the knowledge that there is an afterlife is more reassuring to someone not for themselves, but it provides a comfort to know that their loved one has moved on to a better life. Are there specific books, films, or events that helped you through the process to write about the afterlife, and Frank's perspective?

It was important to me that Frank's actions as a ghost be logical -- that they fit into the rules of the natural world. I'm the least scientific person in the world, probably, but I tried to keep what he could do -- in the beginning, particularly -- within the realm of what I thought of as reasonable. He couldn't just wave an arm and have a door downstairs shut, and he had to deal with the frustration of that limitation. I also read The Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier several times during the course of writing Evenfall -- it approaches the afterlife in such an original and interesting way, and it is just such a great book. 

4. History is a significant piece of Evenfall as well - Aunt Gert certainly was an incredible woman in her life. Being a part of World War II as a nurse seems to truly develop the strength of her character as a strong woman who won't take any guff - what were your inspirations to develop Aunt Gert?

I read several biographies of women who served as nurses in World War II -- their tales were very inspiring. Also, my mom was a nurse in a very tough New England town in the 70s and 80s, and I drew a bit on what I remember of she and her friends during that time.

5. As a new author, what insights can you share for aspiring novelists?

There are so many blogs and websites and books out there with good advice -- take advantage of them! (I list my three favorite blogs on my website, and for books, I'm partial to Stephen King's On Writing.) I also tried to figure out how my favorite authors write so well -- how they break down a story in terms of pacing, why they use a certain point of view, how they handle aspects like backstory and flashbacks. When I'm stuck, I'll literally pick apart a scene by someone else to see why it works when my scene doesn't. 

6. What are your favorite books/authors?

I read pretty much everything, but I do have some favorites. Amy Bloom (especially A Blind Man Could See How Much I Love You), Lee Child, Alice Hoffman (Turtle Moon and Practical Magic), Diana Gabaldon, and Barbara Kingsolver are on my 'automatic buy' list. I also love Jane Austen, A.S. Byatt, J.K. Rowling, C.S. Lewis, and Tolkien. 

7. What's next for you?

I'm working on a story about a family where, in every generation, one daughter is born with the power to make things disappear. It's a little bit more magical realism in terms of genre than Evenfall. It's about love and siblings and how we decide who 'belongs' and who doesn't. I just sent the first 50 pages to my agent, and I'm really excited about it.

Liz Michalski

Author Bio

Liz Michalski's first novel, EVENFALL, will be published in February 2011 by Berkley Books (Penguin).  She's been a report, an editor, a freelance writer, and has written hundreds of articles for newspapers, magazines, and private corporations.

In her previous life, she wrangled with ill-tempered horses and oversized show dogs.  These days she chases after small children and a medium-sized mutt.  She likes dark chocolate caramels, champagne, and licorice tea (preferably not all served at once).  In summer you'll find her visiting farmer's markets and trying to talk her family out of making her swim at the Connecticut shore.

The rest of the year she's home in Massachusetts with her husband, daughter, and son, hard at work on her next novel.

Note from Coffee and a Book Chick

Many thanks go to Liz Michalski for taking the time to interact with the book blogging community and her readers.  It goes a long way when someone who doesn't have to, but does, participate, and does it so genuinely and with such a good spirit.  I look forward to her next book!

In stores next week for February 2011 releases by Berkley Books (Penguin)!

Happy Reading,

Coffee and a Book Chick

A long post, but something different today for you. Tomorrow comes my review on the very first completed audio book. I admit, I am not looking forward to writing it. Instead, I thought I'd share with you a few pictures of Roma the Dog, as well as introduce you to my sister's new photoblog - and both are MUCH more interesting than the review I am trying to put together.

So. I, for one, do not like to drive anywhere if I have to be in a car more than six hours. It becomes confining, food eaten an hour ago is stuffed in the fast food bag and crumpled somewhere in the car. But this holiday, Roma the Dog was coming along to visit family, so driving was our only option. I'm so happy that we did drive because my sister got some of my favorite shots of Roma!

Introducing Two New Bloggers

Yes, my sister is one of the new bloggers - she is a professional photographer and after almost twenty years in the Navy, retiring a couple of years ago as a Commander, she is starting her business. She specializes in children's portraiture, and also focuses on stock photography and does the occasional wedding as well. Her artistic photos are some of my favorites! So, here are the sites:

• Digital Graces - Children's Portraiture
• Grace Protzman Photoblog - the blog with pics and reviewing tips she employs to get the best shot
• Digital Graces Facebook site - GIVEAWAY!  Become a fan of her Facebook site by clicking "like" at the top of the FB page and you could win a $15 iTunes card.  Specific details are on her site/blog.

If you are a newbie to photography, or just want some extra tips on picture-taking, and other items, stop on by to any of these sites!

Also, please visit Erika at The Black Dog Gang blog - she chronicles her adventures in fostering dogs in Missouri - it's an absolutely wonderful site as she does her part locally to help socialize and raise dogs into an adoptable environment for their forever home!

Courtesy of Grace Protzman Photography

About Roma the Dog

My niece put the headband on in this picture, and I... I admit that I did put Roma into the Santa outfit in the second one...

Roma is a mix Vizsla (pronounced Vee-shla), which is a Hungarian hunting dog. She, quite possibly, could be the sweetest dog I've ever been lucky enough to have in my life. Over the years, my husband and I have done our fair share of picking up stray dogs running in traffic, tracking down the owner, or finding a new home for them. We love dogs and were planning to get one soon, but we wanted to make sure we were ready to have a dog.

One rainy day in Florida about three years ago, my husband asked me to come out to the backyard.  I work from home and was in between conference calls, so I traipsed out from my office, and lo and behold, he had this very thin dog standing there with him.  She wagged her tail at me, and I immediately fell in love with her sweet eyes and face.

It turns out that my husband found her on an incredibly busy street, randomly walking around from one trash pile to another. Had she stepped four feet to the left, she would have found herself in the middle of two-way traffic traveling at 45 miles an hour at least.  My husband picked her up and put her into the car. She either must have been neglected or she was a stray for quite some time - the flea collar with no tags on it had grown into her skin and she had absolutely no hair on her chest. She was underweight by about twenty pounds.  I had to cut her collar off of her in order to get it off.

We chose to think that she had been a stray for quite some time, instead of thinking that she was neglected to give the previous owners the benefit of the doubt. We did everything we could to find them:

1. We took her to the vet to see if there was a chip in her
2. We posted flyers.
3. We posted online.

No response. She also got along with the cat from the very first day (who normally hates all dogs), to the point where Puppy the Cat (yes, his name is Puppy), would cuddle and sleep with her. We had a decision to make. We both knew what we wanted, we just had to say it out loud.

So we did. We decided to keep her and were lucky to have her as part of our lives. We named her Roma since my husband and I both love Italy, and it turns out that the name sweetly suits her wonderful personality.

During this cold winter, please remember that you can help the strays that you see. If you see a dog, take the time to call the local authorities that help in getting the animal so it's not hurt. And when you're ready for a dog, visit your local shelter first - they have an abundant availability of amazing dogs and cats so you don't have to pay the hundreds (or thousands) of dollars to buy a dog. And most importantly, analyze whether or not you have the time and resources to have a pet depend on you - can you spend the time to take them to the vet, get food for them, and just pay attention to them? Remember, a dog isn't supposed to be outside all day long - they are part of your family.

Your local animal shelters need your help to make sure that dogs like Roma are cared for and saved before they are hurt by a car, or just neglected. Dogs become what we teach them to be. In this case below, Santa's little helper.

Courtesy of Grace Protzman Photography

Happy Reading,

Coffee and a Book Chick

Put it on this bookshelf

If you've haven't already read my gushing praise of R.J. Erbacher's Coffee and Fate, click here.  And now the winners for two copies of this 134 page wallop of a story are:

1. Knitting & Sundries
2. Literary Musings

Congratulations!  A separate note will be sent to you requesting your mailing address!

Happy Reading!
Coffee and a Book Chick

Put it on this bookshelf

A little behind schedule on this one, but... the winners of BEAT (click here for my review), by Stephen Jay Schwartz are:

1. Pop Culture Nerd
2. Knitting and Sundries
3. Anne in Alabama

Congratulations!  A separate note will be sent to you requesting your mailing address!

Happy Reading!

Coffee and a Book Chick

Book Review
Let me first say this -- you have to have thick skin to deal with this book.  It's laden with sexually graphic detail and language since the primary character is a homicide detective with an addiction to sex.  Generally speaking, he's not opposed to internet porn, prostitutes, and the like.  (Is this a trend for what I've been reading this week...?)

Hayden Glass is an LAPD homicide detective and in the prior book, he's encountered some fairly gruesome situations in which he's looked at as a hero by the public, but his file is completely sealed.  Only he and a few others know what he really did.  He's got some time off right now (forced medical leave), and he's making use of it by finding someone he really likes...who he happens to have met through an internet porn site, and then met in real life after obsessively traveling to San Francisco.  He is a "recovering" sex addict, after all.

Cora is the girl he's met online, and he likes her a lot.  He thinks there's more between them, and maybe so.    Not only does he like her, but she happens to be a primary link to a sex slave trade that's run by the Russian mafia.  But right now, she's gone missing after being brutally taken from Hayden right in front of him, and he wasn't able to do anything about it.

If you can get past the graphic subject matter and those first few pages particularly (literally, page two would make Tiger Woods blush), then you're in for a well written mystery/suspense/thriller.  Although it's gritty and disturbing, Stephen Jay Schwartz finesses the images to keep you thoroughly unsettled but racing to find out who's behind the corruption supporting the sex slave trade, and more importantly, where Cora is. It's also a fascinating portrayal of a character who has a debilitating and ruling addiction that he's at the early stages of overcoming. Fans of Stephen Jay Schwartz and his character, Hayden Glass, won't be disappointed.

This is the second book for the Hayden Glass character, but you can read this as a stand alone.  There's enough references and background provided to not make you confused and wonder what happened in the first book, but only enough to make you want to go pick it up and read it.

_______________________________________________________________________________

...GIVEAWAY ALERT...

I received Beat, by Stephen Jay Schwartz from Ashlee at PR by the Book, so many thanks to her.  The book was released on September 28, but thanks to Ashlee, I have THREE FREE COPIES to give out -- all I need is for you to enter a comment to this post with your email address.  As I always say, you don't have to be a follower, but I love feeling the love...

Entries accepted through Thursday, October 14, 2010, and winner announced Friday, October 15, 2010.

_______________________________________________________________________________

About the Author (from the author's Amazon site)

Los Angeles Times Bestselling Author Stephen Jay Schwartz spent a number of years as the Director of Development for film director Wolfgang Petersen (whose credits include Das Boot, In the Line of Fire, Air Force One, The Perfect Storm, Troy) where he worked with writers, producers and studio executives to develop screenplays for production. Among the film projects he helped developed are Air Force One, Outbreak, Red Corner, Bicentennial Man and Mighty Joe Young.

Stephen's own film work has exhibited at the AFI Los Angeles International Film Festival, the Directors Guild of America, The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California.
He also worked as a screenwriter and freelance "script doctor," developing concepts, treatments and feature films for independent film producers. His writing credits include Inside the Space Station, narrated by Liam Neeson and produced as a "Watch with the World" special for The Discovery Channel.
Boulevard, a very dark crime thriller set in present-day Los Angeles, is Stephen's first novel. His second novel is due out in Summer, 2010. In addition to writing novels, Stephen plans to direct feature films through his production company, Picaro Entertainment.

Stephen Jay Schwartz currently lives in Southern California with his wife and two young boys. Learn more about Stephen by visiting his website at stephenjayschwartz.com. Stephen also blogs regularly at the crime/thriller author blogsite www.murderati.com.

Visit the author's site by clicking here.

Happy Reading!
Coffee and a Book Chick

Ahh, you thought I forgot didn't you?  Today's the day when the winner of *the* giveaway for The Gin Closet, by Leslie Jamison is announced...but the day's almost over!  I've had my nose stuck in work, and then in Beth Revis' Across the Universe, which is an ARC that I picked up at the SIBA Trade Show.  This book will be released in January 2011 - but a review and author interview is coming for you tomorrow!

I absolutely loved The Gin Closet -- Leslie Jamison was a wonderful author to interact with, and the story was an incredible book to read.  You can read my review by clicking here.

And sooo...  thanks to the fabulous Random.org, the winner of the one copy that I have is...

Bibliophile by the Sea -- congratulations!!

I'll send you a quick note to get your mailing address and then I'll send out the book right away!

Also, I am now tagged!  The fabulous Stacy at A Novel Source (who I had the good luck of meeting at the SIBA Trade Show event in Daytona Beach this past weekend!) has issued this illustrious tag, and I must comply with answering a few very fun questions, and then I'll pass it on to the next lucky blogger:

4 Things In My Handbag

1. iPhone (love)
2. A pin from St. Anthony's Feast in Boston's North End
3. Eye covers for a tanning bed (yes, I go every now and again)
4. The SkyMall Magazine (I'm always flying somewhere for a meeting so I grabbed one from a flight)

4 Things In/On My Desk

1. Work laptop
2. Hemingway Home in Key West mousepad
3. "Slow down, don't talk so fast..." A sign I printed and posted as a reminder for when I'm on my conference calls
4. iPhone earbuds

4 Favorite Things in My Bedroom

1. The train ticket that took me and my husband from the airport to Rome for our honeymoon last year
2. A picture of me and my husband dressed in 1970s Scarface attire for a New Year's costume party
3. iPhone charger (yeah, I know, but how do I stay connected, right?)
4. My dog's bed by my side

4 Things I Always Wanted to Do (But Haven't Yet)

1. Move to Italy
2. Buy a house on the beach (winning the lottery is critical here)
3. Open up a small business (maybe I'll announce that on here one day)
4. Get a book published...one day...

4 Things I Enjoy Very Much at the Moment

1. Anticipating my one-year wedding anniversary!  (October 10th!)
2. Cooler weather
3. The beach in North Florida in October
4. Planning a trip to the Harry Potter theme park this fall

4 Songs I can't Get Out of My Head

1. "Jet Lag," Acoustic version by Joss Stone
2. "It Hurts So Bad," by Susan Tedeschi
3. "Bastards on Parade," by Dropkick Murphys
4. "Guaranteed," by Eddie Vedder

4 Things You Didn't Know About Me

1. I'm a vegetarian, but trying to get back to being a vegan
2. I had the honor of getting on stage in the mid-1990s and introducing Maya Angelou to a crowd of 1000 for one of the most amazing lectures I've ever been to in my life
3. I have an OLD Jetta and refuse to turn it in because I can't stand car payments
4. I was born in the Philippines and lived in Greece and Venezuela as a kid

Now, to pass this on to a few bloggers I really want to know more about:

• You've Gotta Read This!
• Bermudaonion's Weblog
• Raging Bibliomania
• Alita Reads

Check these ladies out!

Happy Reading!
Coffee and a Book Chick

Book Review
I read the first few pages and I was suddenly afraid.  Afraid to put this down even for a quick break because it deserved my complete focus on it, each tortured character demanding that I listen to their voice, their story.  I didn't want to miss a thing, no matter whether disturbing or unsettling, and I certainly didn't want to forget a single moment that the characters experienced.

I received The Gin Closet from the author, Leslie Jamison, and am upset that I couldn't read it sooner than when I first received it.  I was trapped within so many commitments, both in my professional and personal life, that it wasn't until this week that I could devote the time it truly warranted.  I was flying out to Minneapolis for a meeting, and the author's copy came along for the flight.

The book is told from two perspectives in the first person:  Stella and Tilly.  Stella is the daughter of a high-powered immigration lawyer, Dora, and the granddaughter of Lucy, who in her ailing years reveals a secret that no one has talked about.  There is another, a daughter of Lucy's that has never been spoken of.  Stella, broken though she may be, is determined to find this aunt, someone named Matilda who goes by Tilly.  When she finds her, Tilly is surrounded by empty bottles of gin in a run-down trailer in the middle of the desert.  But it's something that Stella can grasp onto in the mired sadness of her life -- again, maybe someone she can try to help.  She convinces Tilly that they should pack everything up, get her dry and sober on the trip, and move together to San Francisco, where Tilly's son is a rich banker with plenty of space in his home, and plenty of his own quiet grief to share. Stella and Tilly really almost are the same person, their experiences painfully different and similar all at the same time.  Is that possible?  It almost felt like I was reading a song:

It was a closet, not the bedroom.  I could see dim shapes:  bottles glinting on the floor and the ghostly ribs of a turkey carcass. There was a small stool tucked into the corner.  I could pick out flies buzzing in the blackness.  The mess rotted quietly, like a festering wound.  I pulled a chord.  A naked bulb sparked dirty light into the dark, showing an inflatable mattress covered with plastic bottles:  empty handles of gin, too many to count.  The air reeked like a drunk's breath.  There was a pink blanket bunched into one corner, the kind of candy shade a child might choose. (p. 94)

I felt guilty as I read this book -- each character's troubled story touched me and I felt ashamed that I was enjoying reading about their terrible miseries, rooting though I may have been for them to overcome their tragedies.

This is a story of grief, sadness, isolation.  There were scenes that were uncomfortable and troubling but they were real, completely authentic and believable to each character, and I never felt tricked into any part of this story -- I was a willing reader who wanted a happy ending, but instead I got life's truth.  Leslie Jamison's debut will render you speechless and amazed, and leave you thinking about it for days.

Please read this. Visit Leslie Jamison's site by clicking here.

Author Interview

I was so excited that Leslie Jamison was not only kind enough to do an e-interview, but also to answer the questions so quickly in time for today’s post (I sent my questions to her last night and I received a response this morning!).  Take a look through the below Q&A -- it was an absolute pleasure to read this book and interact with the author:

1.  This is such a beautifully crafted story.  Every writer always says that they've written since they were a kid, but when do you feel that you felt more comfortable with writing, when the words on the page felt like they were honest and true?

When I graduated from my MFA program in 2006, I was working on a novel that wasn't anything like this one. It was totally concept-driven, about a strange social reality museum, a bit low on the plot, and (I'm not sure what this means) full of male characters. In any case, I never felt at home in its world. I always felt as if I were forcing or twisting emotions into existence on the page. I was working long hours at desk jobs in New York and feeling bitter about it. Then I moved to LA to begin taking care of my grandmother, who was dying, and found I couldn't keep writing that first novel anymore. I just couldn't. There was no energy or inspiration left; the will to write it had dissolved because the book didn't feel important enough. I started writing scenes from my own life instead, without any sense of where they were headed--scenes of caretaking and familial strife and reconnection--and these launched the book on its path. I don't say this because I think that powerful writing has to come from real life, but because I do feel it needs (for me, at least) to flow from an emotional vein that feels urgent. And I think it was important I wrote those early scenes without a clear sense of the larger whole they would fit inside of. I didn't have ambitions for them, I just wanted to get them down.

 2.  Who do you feel helped to shape you and your writing?

Some of the writers who've been most important to me: William Faulkner, Virginia Woolf, Richard Yates, Mary Gaitskill, Cormac McCarthy, Marilynne Robinson, Charlie D'Ambrosio. But it's my mother who has shaped most deeply the way I try to imagine the lives of other people. She's informed, more than anyone else, my sense of what empathy might look like--the forms it might take--and I want my writing to be an extension of that. I think it has to be.

3.  What contemporary authors do you feel maintain that authentic storytelling, regardless of how disturbing or unsettling an image may be?

Cormac McCarthy and Richard Yates are really great examples of what it means to maintain authenticity in telling violent stories. McCarthy's are often literally violent--the frontier of Blood Meridian or the post-apocalyptic ravages of The Road--while Yates offers domestic landscapes so withering in their emotional dysfunction you get the feeling of carnage. In both authors'  work, I often find myself hungering to turn away, unsure whether I want to bear another moment of someone's suffering---but I trust, at all moments, that I'm being a told a story whose end I won't regret arriving at. This trust glosses the unnerving moments with faith--not that there will be a happy ending, but a sadness worthy of attention.

4.  There are so many social issues in the story from anorexia to alcoholism -- how did you know which issue should be associated with a character?

This is a great question; I feel like it gets at the heart of the book. I thought of the species of disorder in the book--anorexia, addiction, sexuality--not as "social issues" to be attached to characters, but as expressions of selfhood that found their origins in consciousness. So they began inside each character, but found their rhymes--clearly, painfully--across the other characters with whom they shared the unhappy little domestic sphere of the novel. The realm of the body becomes an essential vocabulary for suffering in the book, and this notion—the body as language, as visceral utterance—is what connects many of the novel’s disparate “issues” in my mind: suicide and alcohol and anorexia. These women articulate pain by starving or drinking or selling themselves. I wanted to look at their physical damage as a kind of self-inflicted alchemy—something that could turn unseen despair into visible communication—and one of the biggest emotional challenges for me, as a writer, was to empathize with these self-destructive impulses without glorifying them. 

5.  What is it about us as people that you feel makes it difficult to be close to each other?

A big question; not sure it's one I'm qualified to answer! But of course I'll go ahead and say something anyway. I think that there's an intense feeling of inadequacy that makes it hard for many of my characters (let's stick to them, for now) to love as they'd like to love---the inadequacy feeds a hunger for love that can't ever be fully satisfied, and this desperate seeking of love sometimes distracts from giving it. Of course the two are always intertwined: loving, and wanting to be loved. What am I saying here? I suppose that the trick is to find a balance that gives more than it takes.

6.  What's next for you?

I am working on a novel about the 1979 Sandinista Revolution in Nicaragua.

Note from Coffee and a Book Chick
I'd like to personally thank Leslie Jamison for being so engaged with the book blogging community -- I love it when an author is personally involved with their work and you get a feel that their involvement with all of us is more than just something that they "have to do."  Many, many thanks.

INTERNATIONAL GIVEAWAY

I’m excited to offer this book up internationally -- to enter, simply leave a comment to this post and also include your email address.  You don’t have to be a follower of my blog, but as I always say, I love feeling the love.

Random.org will pick the winner and I’ll ship out the book to you no matter if you’re in the US, Canada, or overseas -- I really want this book to go into a true book-lover’s hands.  Winner announced next Thursday, allowing one full week for participants to enter in to receive this copy.

Happy Reading,

Coffee and a Book Chick

GIVEAWAY ALERT!!  GIVEAWAY NOTICE POSTED AFTER REVIEW!

From the book jacket:
Lily Forrester is a tough Ventura County judge who has overcome adversity and heartache to get to a place where she can help those who can't help themselves.  She's put all her passion and energy into this cause and has no regrets.  That is, until she receives word that her daughter, Shana, who is attending law school hundreds of miles away, seems to be having a nervous breakdown.

The story of My Lost Daughter is a frightening one.  Following Lily's attempts to ensure that she is a good mother, she commits her daughter Shana to a facility that appears reputable and helpful, only to find that Lily's best efforts to stay in contact with her daughter are futile as the center in which Shana is committed to is from every patient's nightmare -- doctors that issue medications that don't really serve to help, only to confuse, other facility workers who seemingly have no ethics, and patients who may or may not need to be in the hospital, all while Shana seems to spiral down in a maze of drugs that she is powerless to stop.  To top it all off, there is a sick and twisted killer somewhere in the facility, and he's definitely got his eyes on the new patient.  Both Lily and her daughter Shana have a serious past that also contends with who they are today, as they were both raped by the same man one fateful night.  They've come out of that horrific night only to be trapped in another nightmare.

I received this copy from PR by the Book, and was happy to review My Lost Daughter as it was written by an author that I hadn't experienced before.  Although this isn't the first book in this series, rest assured that it can be absorbed without needing to be familiar with the characters previously.  There are enough flashbacks that do an excellent job of securing a strong foothold to understand the reasons for the character's emotions amidst the turmoil of the events that they are trapped in.  Nancy Taylor Rosenberg crafts an effective thriller that her fans will enjoy, one in which the recurring theme of a strong female lead with a tortured past continues on.  Twists and turns abound, a bit more at times than necessary, but readers of Ms. Rosenberg's work will not be disappointed by this new installment in the series, and new readers will be able to jump into the fray without confusion.

And now for the GIVEAWAY!  PR by the Book was kind enough to provide 3 hardcover copies for this event!

You only need to enter your name and email address as a comment and you'll be entered to win a hardcover copy of Nancy Taylor Rosenberg's My Lost Daughter!  You don't have to be a follower of the blog (but I'd feel the love!).  I'm opening this up to readers in the US and Canada, baby! (I'm sorry to the overseas blog readers, I promise, next time!) That's right, go ahead and enter in, and I'll let www.random.org pull the winner!  Winners announced next Sunday night!

Happy Reading!
Coffee and a Book Chick

From http://www.geekologie.com/2008/02/bookshelf_stairs_are_freaking.php

First of all, aren't these bookshelf stairs incredible?!  I can't even imagine how many accidents falling up or down the stairs I would probably have if I had a set of stairs that were bookshelves!  Oh, my!!

Okay, so last Friday, I offered up 3 of my books as a giveaway, and I have 3 fantastic bloggers who I have helped to now add more to their never-ending TBR pile!

And the winners are...

• Barefoot, by Elin Hilderbrand:  Becca at Becca's Byline
• Skinny Dip, by Carl Hiaasen:  Kerry at Entomology of a Bookworm
• The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, by Stieg Larsson:  Shelia at Book Journey

Woohoo!  Send me your mailing address and I'll ship it out right away -- and do let me know what you think once you've read them!

Thanks to everyone who participated in and entered, I follow your blogs and love them!

Happy Reading!
Coffee and a Book Chick


(Note:  Winners chosen randomly by random.org)