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The Opposite of Loneliness by Marina Keegan

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TheOppositeOfLoneliness Ok, so I am a jerk.  I saw this book on the NYT Bestseller list, requested it from the library, and picked it up one Saturday.  I glanced at it, threw it in the passenger seat of my car, and wondered what this young woman could have to say.  I expected something fluffy or self-indulged.  Then I opened the book and read about the author.  I saw two dates, 1989-2012. I stopped and stood in my hallway, absorbing and reading.  I read about Marian Keegan, a talented, accomplished, intelligent young writer who died 5 days after her college graduation in a car accident.   I felt like a terrible person, forgetting the first rule of reading; don’t judge a book by its cover.  Then I sat and read and read.  Marina had incredible things to say, profound, witty, endearing, humane, hopeful, lovely things to say.

This compilation was published after her death.  It is a compilation of short stories and non-fiction pieces.  They are full of longing to change the world, and joy in the journey of life.  She was a writer that could capture human experience succinctly and make you think, “I have felt that, I have done that, I know exactly what you mean.”   A college girl writing about college boyfriends, those are stories one can pound out from their own recesses of experience.  However, Keegan wrote a story about a middle aged woman adopting a baby.  It was sweet, funny, poignant, and very well done.  I was impressed with her ability to capture life stages far beyond her own.

The essay I connected to the most she wrote about her high school car.  Her coming-of-age experiences in it, and the storage unit her care transformed into. A co-worker once laughed at my random collection of things in my car, a can of diet coke, one shoe, and detachable straps from a bridesmaids dress.  My car was my extra home on wheels for many years; it saw me through a lot of happy and sad.  Keegan encapsulated this feeling, I related so well to her depictions.  I believe this is what great writing does, reassures you there is someone else who has felt and experienced the exact same things.  Marina Keegan is a voice gone way too soon.

To Purchase on Amazon, click here:

The Opposite of Loneliness: Essays and Stories

Deep Down Dark by Hector Tobar

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Deep Down Dark

deep down dark book jacketThe story of the trapped Chilean miners is a story I remember hearing about, I knew they were rescued, and their plight sounded bad, but I was ignorant to the details of the story.  Reading Deep Down Dark was humbling to say the least. The daily conditions these men worked in were something I could never endure, however, their entrapment was truly inhumane.  One morning in August the miners left for a normal day of work and did not see the light of day again for 69 days.

While the men were trapped underground they made a pact to keep their story and only tell it to one person who would represent them well.  Hector Tobar was chosen, and he wrote an incredible narrative of their experience. It is known worldwide the men were recsued, but I was on the edge of my seat as I read. As a reader you begin to feel what the men were going through, balancing hope, fear, and helplessness day after day. Tobar wrote this as only a master storyteller could, he layered facts with tender moments from the lives of people. He included the topography of the mountain, technical details about drills and ore, the science of starvation, all pieced together in a heart-wrenching narrative.  The men bonded, fought, and prayed through the endless hours being trapped. It was engrossing from start to finish.  I was grateful for the knowledge I gained about this story and the conditions of modern day mining.  Deep Down Dark is the best book I have read in 2015.

To Purchase on Amazon, click here:

Deep Down Dark: The Untold Stories of 33 Men Buried in a Chilean Mine, and the Miracle That Set Them Free

This is a photo of the capsule in which they were brought up out of the mine. Photo credit to smithsonian.

fenix-capsule

Here is a photo of the men that were trapped.  This is on the back of the book, but hard to see. Photo credit to Macmillan.

DeepDownDark_miners

Book Tour: Four Rubbings Book 2 Coming Soon!

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ghost hands
I have the pleasure to be part of the Book Tour of the next installment of Four Rubbings.  The Art on this post is drawn by the author, please take a look at the excerpt and character profile of Grace, my favorite character from the first book.
Kirkus Reviews said this about FOUR RUBBINGS,”The supernatural is present, but it’s as subtle as a shadow across the moon.” The next book comes out Spring 2015!
title for four rubbings

CHAPTER ONE: Seattle, present day

A blast of high-pitched noise jolts me out of a dark fitful sleep.

“Josie, honey.” My father’s voice muddles with the remnants of a strange dream, sweet voice and sour images. My stomach twists, I thought after saying goodbye to Mom today at the cemetery my nightmares would stop.

I try to force my eyes open, but they won’t obey. Everything around me propels forward like I’m on a roller coaster ride, but forgot to bring down the safety bar. I jostle and slip as I realize I’m lying on a cold metal bed. A car motor rumbles and growls beneath me. Come on, Josie! I will my eyes to open. With only a slit of vision, I see medical supplies and complicated machines that beep and blink. An ambulance?

A guy buzzes past, he plugs cords into monitors and tapes wires to my arms. He’s too focused on the work to notice that I am awake.  Am I dying? I don’t feel like I’m dying. My thoughts are fuzzy, and my head hurts, but the rest of me feels fine, tired, but okay.

“Josie! Baby, you’re awake. She’s awake!” My father’s voice sounds raspy and weak. I look at him, but the bright lights that run down the center of the ceiling hurt my brain, so I close my eyes again.

The EMT pries an eyelid open and shines a penlight inside. “Yep. That’s good news,” he says in a calm, measured voice. “We’re about five minutes from the hospital, seven tops.”

As I watch amber streetlights buzz past the wet streets of Seattle through the back windows, Dad strokes my hair and whispers my name, over and over like a chant. “Josie. Josie.” It feels good and makes me wince at the same time. “You scared the hell out of me, kid.” He leans over and kisses me; a warm tear falls down on me.

The EMT doesn’t say a word, he nudges Dad aside and pushes a gloved finger into the epicenter of the pain, a spot above my eyebrow. White stars explode behind my eyes. What happened? I try to piece together how I got here to distract myself from the pain cleaving my skull in two.

Meet Grace, my favorite character from Four Rubbings

Grace

grace garden

Age: Forty-something, but really, it’s none of your damn business

Occupation: Cemetery caretaker, Lakefront Cemetery, manages a small staff, handles day-to-day maintenance, schedules burials, preserves cemetery history and records

Personal: Widowed ten years ago

Family: All family is deceased except for an older brother who lives in New York City with his wife and twin daughters

Pets: None, unless you count ghost dogs

Education: Bachelor’s degree in Library Sciences

Hobbies: Gardening, reading, archiving records, crossword puzzles

Favorite Holiday: Memorial Day

Favorite Food: Anything home-cooked, I prefer homemade to restaurant fare

hamburger

Least Favorite Food:  Buffets, can’t stand waiting in line for mediocre food

Drives: Small, American-made truck.

Loves: The color red, putting on a pair of clean, white socks after a day of working in the grounds, reality tv and comfortable furniture

If you did not get to read the first book, start the series today, the link to book one is here for your convenience.

Four Rubbings

To Order This book From Amazon, please click here:

Four Rubbings (The Stone Witch Series Book 1)

The Flavia De Luce Series by Alan Bradley

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The Flavia De Luce Series by Alan Bradley

the dead in their vaulted archesI just finished listening to the delightful installment of young Flavia De Luce in The dead in Their Vaulted Arches.  I love this series for the way they make you feel, delighted, warm and cozy.  I do have a bit of a Country Crush on England and nearly all of the books from the British Isles, so I might be biased, but I loved this Audiobook.  Alan Bradley has written a series of these simple mysteries wrapped around the daily life of an 11 year chemistry savant named Flavia.  They are particularly wonderful on Audio.  They are read by the most lavishly articulate British reader, and they come to life in a way the written page does not.

In this recent book, Flavia learns more about the mysterious disappearance of her mother, Harriet.  Harriet De Luce was lost in the Himalayan Mountains when Flavia was just a baby.  Her sisters Daphne and Felicity have always felt this loss deeply.   Flavia who has no memories of her mother, and Daphne and Felicity use this to goad her.  As girls do, they often pit the pain at each other through words and spite.  Flavia is always up to something in her laboratory. Many times seeking revenge for her sisters biting remarks with a chemical altering of their lipstick.

These books have such rich and quirky characters; you cannot help but be charmed by them.  When you get into the series, it is like visiting old friends.  Flavia is a British Nancy Drew with a bent for chemistry and getting up to mischief. I think this was Bradley’s best work yet, and I cannot wait to read more.

Here is the link to the Audiobook on Amazon:

The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches: A Flavia de Luce Novel

Here is the link to the novel on Amazon:

The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches: A Flavia de Luce Novel

the sweetness

If you want to start with the first in the series, it is called The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie.  Here is the link to both the Audio and the book on Amazon.

Audiobook: (This is the cheapest Audiobook I have ever seen on Amazon!)

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie Publisher: Random House Audio; Unabridged edition

Here is the link to the First Book in the Series:

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie: A Flavia de Luce Mystery

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

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A Maa man called oven called Ove is quietly brilliant and utterly charming.    Ove is a man of unchanged routine, from his home, to his car, to his job, he holds onto the familiar with clenched fists.  He is an angry, prickly old man, and has settled into a life of despising most people.  Ove is pushed out of his job of thirty years and he is left without purpose.  To add insult to injury, new neighbors arrive across the street, he is grumpier than ever.  He irritably helps the Iranian neighbors through a medical emergency and a tentavtive friendship is born.  This story unfolds like a tapestry, telling the reader the story of Ove’s life as it has merged with the residents in their neighborhood of row homes.  This book captures the joy and pain of true sacrificial love, friendship with roots as strong as family, and forgiving the past.  The best thing about this book is how it makes you feel as you read, compassion for sweet old Ove, and hope that good can reign over bad.  Rich storytelling and subtle humor make it a moving novel.  I loved every up and down, from the beginning to the end.

To Purchase this book from Amazon, click here:  A Man Called Ove: A Novel