Similar Covers: Woman with Necklace

I mentioned last week that I’d found a few familiar-looking covers in the catalogues I picked up at BEA, so here’s another pair: I spotted Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity by Julia Serano (which sounds like a great read) in the Seal Press catalogue and immediately thought of Kissing Games of the World by Sandi Kahn Shelton. Again, although the Shelton book is more familiar to me, it actually came out more recently (it was published in 2008 by Shaye Areheart)—the Serano book was first published in 2007.

There are actually two other books that feature this woman and her necklace on their covers; check them out at Caustic Cover Critic.

Mailbox Monday (June 28)

I requested The Singer’ s Gun by Emily St. John Mandel from Unbridled Books while I was in New York City—I’m looking forward to reading it not only because I enjoyed Mandel’s debut, Last Night in Montreal (read my review), but also because Wendy at Caribousmom recommended this one for fans of literary fiction and mysteries, calling it “a haunting novel about love, loss, and betrayal which kept my interest from beginning to end” (read Wendy’s full review).

What did you find in your mailbox this past week? For other Mailbox Monday posts, head over to Marcia’s blog, The Printed Page.

And the Winner Is...

Congratulations to Kathleen, who won a copy of Getting a Grip 2: Clarity, Creativity and Courage for the World We Really Want by Frances Moore Lappé. I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did!

Many thanks to The Small Planet Institute for sponsoring this giveaway.

Similar Covers: Overflowing Bathtubs

While I was at BEA last month, I picked up a bunch of publishers’ catalogues and flipped through them before coming home. (I opted not to bring most of them home with me—since my suitcase was already really heavy, I ripped out the pages that looked interesting instead.) Several of the books had familiar-looking covers including Loaded: Women and Addiction by Jill Talbot, which uses the same bathtub cover as The Point of Rescue by Sophie Hannah (published as The Wrong Mother in the US). It must be noted that Loaded was actually published first, in 2007, by Seal Press, while The Point of Rescue came out with Hodder in 2008. Finally, Close-Up by Dutch writer Esther Verhoef has a very similar cover... (It looks to me like the same bathtub from a slightly different angle.)

For other bathtub lookalike covers, check out this post and this post.

Edited to add:
I’ve added the cover to The Wrong Mother (the US version of The Point of Rescue) because I just realized it features the same bathtub from another angle too (I think).

Reviews: The Best Defense by Kate Wilhelm and Careless in Red by Elizabeth George

The Best Defense by Kate Wilhelm is the second of her Barbara Holloway mysteries and in a word it is brilliant. Holloway is an attorney in Eugene, Oregon, who with some reluctance takes on the case of “Baby Killer” Kinnerman, a woman accused of murdering her young daughter. The case looks hopeless—Barbara’s client has already been tried and convicted by the press. Although grieving herself, Barbara rises to the occasion, and watching her slowly build her case makes for gripping reading. This was a reread for me, but I didn’t remember what happened at all and enjoyed The Best Defense just as much the second time around. Barbara is a great character: she is a strong and intelligent woman who is passionate about justice. This is Wilhelm at her best. If you enjoy courtroom dramas, you won’t want to miss this one.

It’s hard to review Careless in Red by Elizabeth George without spoiling any of the previous books in her Lynley/Havers series (this is book 15), but I will do my best (which means I won’t tell you much about the plot).

Devastated by personal tragedy, Detective Superintendent Thomas Lynley has been walking along the Cornish coastline for 43 days when he comes across the body of a young man who has fallen to his death. As the local police are short-staffed, Lynley reluctantly becomes involved in the investigation.

George’s strength is her ability to get into her characters’ heads, telling the story from multiple points of view yet still keeping her readers in the dark as to who did it and why. However, I often feel like her endings are a bit anti-climatic, perhaps because she focuses on so many characters and then inevitably drops them at the end to unravel the mystery. Careless in Red is no exception on both counts—although for the first time I found the characters a bit hard to keep track of at the beginning (which I attributed in part to their odd names). Because I was so deeply disappointed with With No One as Witness (book 13)—and skipped the next book, What Came Before He Shot Her—I was glad this book returned to more familiar ground. If you’re still reading this series, I definitely think this one is worth it—it satisfied my George craving and hopefully the next one will be even better. However, if you haven’t read any of her books yet or are reading them out of order, I’d recommend reading books 1-12 before any of the more recent ones.
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Other review of The Best Defense (contains spoiler of first book): Jandy’s Reading Room

Other reviews of Careless in Red (all contain spoilers of earlier books):

A Work in Progress • Eurocrime • Mysteries in Paradise • Petrona • Reactions to Reading
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Mailbox Monday (June 21) + Giveaway Reminders

Happy Solstice to all my readers! For all of you in the northern hemisphere, I hope it’s as lovely wherever you are as it is here!

I received one book in my mailbox last week: Not That Kind of Girl: A Memoir by Carlene Bauer, another book for a TLC Book Tour in July. This one is a coming-of-age story written by a woman who was raised in evangelical churches. Although I hate the cover, what I’ve read of the book so far is really good. Bauer has a very unique voice.

What did you find in your mailbox this past week? For other Mailbox Monday posts, head over to Marcia’s blog, The Printed Page.
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I also wanted to remind you that today is the last day to enter my giveaway for a copy of Getting a Grip 2: Clarity, Creativity and Courage for the World We Really Want by Frances Moore Lappé. Read my review and then click on the image below to enter the giveaway.

Finally, I also wanted to mention a giveaway run by Lori at The Next Best Book Blog. She is asking participants to submit a letter written to a fictional character to the Letters with Character blog (and post a copy to her blog) in order to win one of 5 copies of What He’s Poised to Do by Ben Greenman. At the moment, only a couple of people have entered, so your chances of winning are good. (And even if you’re not interested in the giveaway, I recommend checking out the Letters with Character blog.) Click on the image below to enter the giveaway.

BEA 2010: Books (Part 2 – The Ones I Missed)

There were a number of books that I’d heard were being promoted at BEA that I missed out on. These are the top five I’m most bummed about not getting (in no particular order):

1. The Passage by Justin Cronin (already pubbed) – I’ve read so many rave reviews of this book (see Presenting Lenore, Hey Lady! Whatcha Readin’?, Books and Movies, Reading Extravaganza, S. Krishna’s Books, A Reader’s Respite, Boston Bibliophile and Book Chatter, for starters), but I was too dazed on my first day of BEA to stand in line to get an autographed copy.
   


2. Inside Out by Maria V. Snyder (already pubbed) – Linda and I tried to get an autographed copy of this one, but they’d run out of books by the time we got there. It was Lenore’s review that piqued my interest in this dystopia: she rated it 5 zombie chickens (“the Ultimate Dystopian Experience”)!
   


3. Half in Love: Surviving the Legacy of Suicide by Linda Gray Sexton (pub date 9/10) – I couldn’t even find the booth of the publisher of this book (Phoenix Books), despite asking about them at the info booth, so I’m not sure Half in Love was actually available at BEA. I read Linda Gray Sexton’s first memoir, Searching for Mercy Street: My Journey Back to My Mother, Anne Sexton years ago, and I will definitely be buying this one at some point.
   


4. Great House by Nicole Krauss (pub date 10/10) – I still haven’t given The History of Love a second try (I couldn’t get into it the first time around), but Great House, which is apparently “a powerful, soaring novel about a stolen desk that contains the secrets, and becomes the obsession, of the lives it passes through,” sounds very good.


5. The Wolves of Andover by Kathleen Kent (pub date 11/10) – I slept in rather than go to Kathleen Kent’s signing, which I didn’t feel too unhappy about when I heard she was a no-show. Unfortunately, this did mean that I didn’t get a copy of this prequel to The Heretic’s Daughter, which I loved (read my review).

Are you excited about any of these books? If you went to BEA, which book(s) did you miss out on?

Similar Covers: Bird’s Nests

Here are three four similar covers that all feature bird’s nests and a blueish-green/brown colour scheme: Bird in Hand by Christina Baker Kline, Family Ties by Danielle Steel and Dangerous Neighbors by Beth Kephart.

I also forgot to mention in my “Bloggiesta Accomplishments” post that I’ve updated three of my “similar covers” posts:

• More Butterflies (Jar Optional) – This post now includes another exact match, which I spotted on Karen’s blog, Euro Crime.
  
• Kids on Swings
• Hats à la Magritte

Edited to add:
I added a second cover for Family Ties above, which I found while trying to answer Jenny’s question. If I’m not mistaken, this new cover (top left) is the UK version while the second one is the U.S. cover. Family Ties comes out later this month. Bird in Hand came out in 2009, while Dangerous Neighbors will be available in August 2010.

Review: The Reinvention of Moxie Roosevelt by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel

Thirteen-year-old Moxie Roosevelt Kipper, the main character in The Reinvention of Moxie Roosevelt by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel, feels that she’s never been able to live up to her wacky name, so on the eve of going to a new school, she decides to reinvent herself. But should she become a Mysterious Earth Goddess (MEG), a Hale and Hearty Sports Enthusiast (HHSE), a Detached, Unique, Coolly Knowing Individual (DUCKI) or an Assertive Revolutionary Activist (ARA)? Instead of picking one new personality, Moxie opts to mould herself to her audience—and keep her “square-headed music habit” to herself—with predictably disastrous results.

I could identify with Moxie’s desire to reinvent herself: I tried the same thing when I went to high school, except that my solution to the “weird name” dilemma was to change my name rather than my personality. However, this was short-lived: on the first day of classes, the only girl who knew me in the whole school shrieked out my new name in the hallway and I knew instantly that I wasn’t destined to become a Laura (my middle name). In any case, it was easier to be an Avis in my English high school than it had been in my French elementary school.*

But back to the book. Although I found the girls Moxie met at school to be a bit stereotypical, the two teachers in the novel, Mr. Tate and Mrs. Hay, are engaging, fully developed and quirky characters—not surprisingly, they were my favourites. Mr. Tate, her piano teacher, gives Moxie some of the best advice I’ve ever heard when he tells her he wants her to tackle Variation 28 of the Goldberg Variations by Bach (which is apparently “the iceberg to the Titanic of many a hopeful virtuoso”**). He says:

[To tackle Variation 28], you have to leave the comfort of those ten pieces you play perfectly and be willing to get messy. Be comfortable with the sound of your own struggle as you try to work it out, even if it sounds like you’re practicing with mittens on. Let it be a work in progress. The only way you’re going to learn how to play it is to learn how not to play it first.** (pp. 67-68)

This is sound advice whenever you’re learning something new, especially if you’re a perfectionist, as I am, and hate making mistakes.

Unfortunately, I found that a few of the plot twists were fairly predictable and some of the embarrassing things that happen to Moxie were a bit over the top (I especially didn’t like the physical comedy situations she found herself in, but then I’ve never been a fan of physical comedy). However, they may appeal more to younger readers (this book is intended for ages 10 and up). In any case, the payoff at the end of the book more than makes up for any of the book’s shortcomings: it is simply brilliant (and brought tears to my eyes). The Reinvention of Moxie Roosevelt is a fun book that doesn’t take itself too seriously but manages nonetheless to impart an important message about the value of being yourself.

Thank you to Tina at Bookshipper for giving me this book to read.

*In French, the word avis means opinion, advice or notice (and is pronounced ah-vee).

**The quotes in this review were taken from an ARC and may not be exactly what appears in the final book.
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Other review: 5 Minutes for Books (scroll down) • Booknut • Bookshipper • Semicolon (scroll down)
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Mailbox Monday (June 14)

Two books that I won during blogiversary giveaways arrived in the mail this week: The Geography of Love: A Memoir by Glenda Burgess, which I won from Carrie at Books and Movies, and Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See, which I won from J.T. Oldfield at Bibliofreakblog. Both Carrie and J.T. were celebrating their first-year anniversaries (although Carrie had blogged elsewhere before).

What did you find in your mailbox this past week? For other Mailbox Monday posts, head over to Marcia’s blog, The Printed Page.

Bloggiesta Accomplishments

The Bloggiesta is over (at least for me) and while I did get quite a few things accomplished in the 12 hours I worked on it, I could spend a whole other weekend on my blog and still not get through my to-do list!

What I did do:

• I fixed almost all the dead links on my blog using both Xenu’s Link Sleuth (which I found via Karen’s mini-challenge at Karin’s Book Nook) and Link Evaluator (a Firefox add-on).


• I added pages to the top of my blog and transferred my review indexes to them (and removed my homemade menu bar); however, I still need to write a proper review policy.


• I publicized my current giveaway, which resulted in several new entries.


• I ran my blog through Website Grader (for Ruth’s mini-challenge at Bookish Ruth) and realized I no longer had any metadata, so I added some (which improved my score by over 30%).


• I visited several new-to-me blogs (and hope to visit more next week).
  


• I created several new Google Alerts for Emily’s mini-challenge at Emily’s Reading Room.


• I worked on four different reviews (although none of them are finished to my satisfaction).


• I finished one of my BEA/BBC posts.


• I wrote up my Mailbox Monday post for tomorrow.
  


• I responded to some of the comments on my blog.


• I created a favicon for my blog, finally, thanks to Trish’s mini-challenge at Hey Lady! Whatcha Readin’? Even though this might seem silly, this is the change I’m the most pleased with (and it took no time at all)!


• I had tacos for supper tonight, which seemed like an appropriate way to end this event!
  

What I didn’t do:

• I didn’t stay up all night like I did for the first Bloggiesta and I didn’t stress too much about the things I wasn’t managing to accomplish.
  

How did you do on the Bloggiesta? Thanks, Natasha, for organizing this great event!

It’s Bloggiesta Time Again!

It’s Bloggiesta time again! What is the Bloggiesta, you ask? It’s a twice-yearly event organized by Natasha at Maw Books Blog. This particular Bloggiesta runs from 8 a.m. today to 8 a.m. Monday (your time). As Natasha put it, this is “an opportunity to cross those nagging items off of your to-do list and improve your blog while in the good company of other awesome bloggers doing the same thing. Break out the nachos, enchiladas, drinks, mariachi music and whack a pinata or two!”

It’s not too late to join in the fun at Maw Books Blog.

My to-do list is extensive (and undoubtedly incomplete):

• write reviews
• write a proper About Me page
• write a Review Policy
• update my review indexes
• post latest reviews on LibraryThing and Goodreads
  
• publicize my current giveaway on LibraryThing, Goodreads, etc.
  
• finish writing BEA/BBC posts
• respond to comments on my blog
• fix my sidebars and include a button for my Stream of Suggestions Challenge
• respond to emails
• comment on BEA/BBC posts (especially those written by bloggers I met!)
• fix broken links
• add pages
• add favicon

I may add to the list as I go and I’ll definitely cross stuff off as I complete each task. I’m hoping to spend at least 16 hours on the Bloggiesta. (I unfortunately have to work today, but may sneak in a few tasks during the day anyway. Otherwise, I’ll start in earnest this evening!)

Let me know if you’re joining in too!

Giveaway Extension: Getting a Grip 2: Clarity, Creativity and Courage for the World We Really Want by Frances Moore Lappé

Because relatively few people have entered my giveaway for Getting a Grip 2: Clarity, Creativity and Courage for the World We Really Want by Frances Moore Lappé, I’ve decided to extend the giveaway by another 10 days until June 21.

Read my review to see if this inspiring book appeals to you and then read Ms. Lappé’s guest post and enter the giveaway!

The giveaway is open to U.S. and Canadian residents only (no P.O. boxes).

Best of luck!

Similar Covers: Woman at the Window

Here are three sets of covers that feature a woman at a window:

1. The Women of Brewster Place by Gloria Naylor
2. Speaking of Love by Angela Young
   
3. Eden Close by Anita Shreve
4. The Good Wife by Stewart O’Nan
5. The Girl at the Lion d’Or by Sebastian Faulks
6. Fire in the Blood by Irène Némirovsky
   
7. Nothing But Ghosts by Beth Kephart
8. A Woman Betrayed by Barbara Delinsky
9. The Fireman’s Wife by Jack Riggs

Have you come across any other covers that could work in these sets?

BEA 2010: Books (Part 1 – The 50+ Pounds I Brought Home)

As most of you know, I spent four full days in New York City recently for BEA and Book Blogger Con (May 25 to 28): I was there to pick up books, meet fellow bloggers (as well as authors and publicists) and of course enjoy some good food. (I didn’t really do any sightseeing at all!) I’m therefore going to break up my BEA/BBC reports into several posts focusing on these themes.

First off, books, because obviously BEA is all about the books! I certainly did well in that department: I brought an empty suitcase with me on the way to New York, and it was full to the brim with 50+ pounds of books and assorted swag on my way back:

Click on photo to enlarge

Here are the books I lugged home, most of which I picked up at BEA (the ones on the bottom right are books I bought, except for Designated Fat Girl: A Memoir by Jennifer Joyner, which was also a BEA snag):

Click on photo to enlarge

It’s hard to narrow done the list to the top few I’m most excited about because frankly I’m pretty excited about all the books I picked up. However, there were a baker’s dozen that stood out:

Click on photo to enlarge

1. By Nightfall by Michael Cunningham (pub date 10/10) – This is the book I’m most excited about: Cunningham is one of my favourite authors and I didn’t even realize he had another book on the way until I heard about this one at BEA.


2. Special Exits: A Graphic Memoir by Joyce Farmer (pub date 9/10) – Graphic memoirs are one of my favourite genres these days: this was the first book I snagged at BEA from a friendly rep at Fantagraphics.
   


3. I’d Know You Anywhere by Laura Lippman (pub date 9/10) – I loved What the Dead Know, which I read last year (but unfortunately didn’t review), so I’m keen to read more of Lippman’s mysteries.
   


4. Room by Emma Donoghue (pub date 9/10) – I haven’t read anything by this Canadian author yet, but this novel told from the point of view of a five-year-old boy who has spent his whole life locked in a room with his mother sounds both creepy and fascinating.


5. Let’s Take the Long Way Home: A Memoir of Friendship by Gail Caldwell (pub date 8/10) – I had read Wendy’s review of this book, which is about Caldwell’s friendship with writer Caroline Knapp, and I’m interested in the relationships between women writers, so I was thrilled to get my hands on a copy of this memoir.


6. The Water Wars by Cameron Stracher (pub date 1/11) – This YA dystopia about a world where water is more precious than oil or gold sounds all too plausible. I have high hopes for this one!
   


7. Ape House by Sara Gruen (pub date 9/10) – I heard Gruen speak at the Author Lunch at BEA and her amazing stories about the bonobos at the Great Ape Trust in Iowa (which inspired this novel) brought tears to my eyes.
   


8. Dangerous Neighbors by Beth Kephart (pub date 8/10) – I’ve heard so many good things about Kephart’s books (thanks mainly to Amy), plus this YA novel is a story about sisters, which sounds good to me.
   


9. The Watchman’s Rattle: Thinking Our Way Out of Extinction by Rebecca D. Costa (pub date 10/10) – After reading Getting a Grip 2: Clarity, Creativity and Courage for the World We Really Want by Frances Moore Lappé recently, this book sounds like a good follow-up.
   


10. Up from the Blue by Susan Henderson (pub date 10/10) – I had never heard of this debut author or this novel before I found a copy in my swag bag after the Celebration of Book Bloggers hosted by Harper Collins, but I started reading it on the subway back to my hotel and it sounds really good.
    


11. Dismantled by Jennifer McMahon (already pubbed) – I was afraid this tale of suspense might be too creepy for me, but I devoured this book last week and really enjoyed it. (It’s creepy, but not too creepy!)
    


12. Manhood for Amateurs: The Pleasures and Regrets of a Husband, Father and Son by Michael Chabon (already pubbed) – Two of my favourite bloggers, Rebecca and Jenners, raved about this one, so my expectations are high!
    


13. Sima’s Undergarments for Women by Ilana Stanger-Ross (already pubbed) – I’ve read good things about this one on the blogs, and it’s blurbed by Michelle Richmond, one of my new favourite authors, so I’m hoping I’ll enjoy it too.

Are any of these books on your wish list? If you were at BEA, what fabulous books did you pick up that I missed?

Mailbox Monday (July 7)

I apologize for my disappearing act last week: so much for posting more or less as usual! My trip to New York City was both fun and exhausting—I’ve been sleeping a lot since I got back. And of course I picked up piles of books at BEA, but I’ll be posting about them in a separate post sometime this week. In the meantime, I received one book in the mail this past week: Hidden Wives by Claire Avery (which is actually the pseudonym for two sisters, Mari Hilburn and Michelle Poché). I will be reviewing this book (which is the story of two sisters in a polygamous community) as part of a TLC Book Tour in July.

What did you find in your mailbox this past week? For other Mailbox Monday posts, head over to Marcia’s blog, The Printed Page.