SUNDAY UPDATES/MAILBOX MONDAY — COOLING DOWN! — AUGUST 11

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Good morning!  Today’s post will link up to Sunday Salon, The Sunday Post, and head over to The Reading Fever...or Bermudaonion for Mailbox Monday.

This past week has brought slightly cooler weather…and I had a little longer in the mornings to read outside in the cool air.

 

 

THIS WEEK ON THE BLOGS:

Tuesday Intros/Teasers:  The Interestings

Hump Day Sparks:  Waiting on Thankless in Death

Book Beginnings & The Friday 56:  Ladies’ Night

Sweet Saturday Sample:  Life Throws a Curve

(Review) Amy Falls Down, by Jincy Willett

(Review) Necessary Lies, by Diane Chamberlain

(Review) The Interestings, by Meg Wolitzer

(Review)  Ladies’ Night, by Mary Kay Andrews

 

INCOMING BOOKS:

The mailbox brought two review books…and I downloaded one purchase.

Blue Plate Special, by Kate Christensen (Amazon Vine)

 

 

“To taste fully is to live fully.” For Kate Christensen, food and eating have always been powerful connectors to self and world—“a subterranean conduit to sensuality, memory, desire.” Her appetites run deep; in her own words, she spent much of her life as “a hungry, lonely, wild animal looking for happiness and stability.” Now, having found them at last, in this passionate feast of a memoir she reflects upon her journey of innocence lost and wisdom gained, mistakes made and lessons learned, and hearts broken and mended.
In the tradition of M. F. K. Fisher, Laurie Colwin, and Ruth Reichl, Blue Plate Special is a narrative in which food—eating it, cooking it, reflecting on it—becomes the vehicle for unpacking a life. Christensen explores her history of hunger—not just for food but for love and confidence and a sense of belonging—with a profound honesty, starting with her unorthodox childhood in 1960s Berkeley as the daughter of a mercurial legal activist who ruled the house with his fists. After a whirlwind adolescent awakening, Christensen strikes out to chart her own destiny within the literary world and the world of men, both equally alluring and dangerous. Food of all kinds, from Ho Hos to haute cuisine, remains an evocative constant throughout, not just as sustenance but as a realm of experience unto itself, always reflective of what is going on in her life. She unearths memories—sometimes joyful, sometimes painful—of the love between mother and daughter, sister and sister, and husband and wife, and of the times when the bonds of love were broken. Food sustains her as she endures the pain of these ruptures and fuels her determination not to settle for anything less than the love and contentment for which she’s always yearned.
The physical and emotional sensuality that defines Christensen’s fiction resonates throughout the pages of Blue Plate Special. A vibrant celebration of life in all its truth and complexity, this book is about embracing the world through the transformative power of food: it’s about listening to your appetites, about having faith, and about learning what is worth holding on to and what is not.

 

The Murders at Astaire Castle, by Lauren Carr (From Author)

 

 

Never tell Mac Faraday not to do something. Spencer’s police chief, David O’Callaghan, learns this lesson the hard way when he orders Mac Faraday to stay away from the south end of Spencer’s mountaintop—even though he owns the property. It doesn’t take long for Mac to find out what lies on the other side of the stone wall and locked gate, on which hangs a sign warning visitors to Keep Out! Topping the list of the ten most haunted places in America, Astaire Castle is associated with two suicides, three mysterious disappearances, and four murders since it was built almost a century ago—and Mac Faraday owns it! In spite of David’s warning, Mac can’t resist unlocking the gate to see the castle that supposedly hasn’t seen a living soul since his late mother had ordered it closed up after the double homicide and disappearance of Damian Wagner, a world-famous master of horror novels. What starts out as a quick tour of a dusty old castle turns into another Mac Faraday adventure when Astaire Castle becomes the scene of even more murders. Mac is going to need to put all of his investigative talents to work to sort out this case that involves the strangest characters he has run into yet—including a wolf man. No, we’re not talking about Gnarly.

 

The Dream You Make (e-book), by Christine Nolfi (.99 this weekend)

 

 

Each day Annie McDaniel’s dream of a brighter future slips further away.

After her nephew’s world is destroyed in a burst of gunfire, Annie receives temporary custody of five-year-old Dillon. Now the greenhouse she managed with her late father isn’t bringing in enough money. If she doesn’t get her financial house in order, a judge will allow a couple in Baltimore to adopt Dillon–and remove him from her life forever.

When Annie takes a second job at Rowe Marketing, the instant attraction she shares with Michael Rowe is a circumstance she can’t risk. But should she walk away from a love sure to last a lifetime?

Fresh, heartwarming and inspiring, The Dream You Make reveals that hope always carries the promise of new beginnings.

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And that’s my week!  What does yours look like?  Come on by and let’s chat.