Monday, March 29, 2010

I'm a Gleek!

If you haven't watched Glee yet, try to catch it when it returns in April. Basic premise Glee club (absolutely amazing talent) trying to make it in school when they are so uncool. One of my favorite characters is Sue Sylvester. She has a TV show within the show and is the "Cheerios" (cheerleading) coach. Here is a bit from her TV show

What's New With Elizabeth Gilbert

The Author of Eat Pray Love, has been busy.
Her new book "Committed-A Skeptic Makes Peace With Marriage" would turn Lisa on and Sarah off just from the cover....Why you might ask.... Lisa loves a title and and then a colon (or implied colon) and sub title. Sarah hates a title that is smaller than the author's name. Although if you consider the whole of the artwork in which the title is embedded I think it is bigger :)
This is the story of Ms. Gilbert getting married. If any of you have read it, please use the barely used comment button to reply. Except Nancy of course because "She doesn't BLOG!" Which is actually just reading, but hey I'm done with that argument.

Two interesting videos below. One is Elizabeth Gilbert speaking about her writing muse...I think it is fascinating, the other a trailer for EPL. Let's go when it gets here!




Friday, March 26, 2010

Adrianna Trigiani



I fell in love with Adrianna Trigiani when I saw the cover of "Big Stone Gap!" The trilogy did not disappoint! I just received "Very Valentine" and "Brava Valentine" in the mail. I can't wait to dig in! I'll keep you posted!

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Time Travelers Wife

I can't wait for book club in a few weeks! (My grandma would say, "quit wishing your life away!") I have loved this book for years and can't wait to share it with you Chapter Chatters. Of course I have a deep love for all things "time travel" and when I figure it out I will come back to book club from some future date to tell you all how it works!
I will throw one question out now....If you could time travel (and safely return) A. Would you do it? and B. if it could be to only one place/time...where and when?
So Audrey Niffenegger. Endlessly fascinating! Her bio can be found at this link http://audreyniffenegger.com/about She has an interesting Q& A session and I am going to include just one of her answers re: e-books Why can’t I find e-book versions of your books? I am not opposed to the existence of e-books; I know lots of people are wildly enthusiastic about them. But I have spent my life working with books as an art form and I am devoted to physical books. E-books in their current incarnations are still imperfect and they threaten the arts of book design and typography. As a book conservator I am also nervous about the digitization of books: will they be readable one hundred years from now? Or will thousands of books simply vanish as platforms and programs change? E-books have certain advantages (they are searchable) and disadvantages (they are not beautiful objects in themselves and don’t display images very well). I’m sure they will improve over time, though. I don’t know when or if my books will become e-books. Writing me hostile e-mail about this will not hasten my desire.
Ms. Niffenegger lives in Chicago; has another book coming out; "Her Fearful Symmetry" A ghost story set in and around Highgate Cemetary in London. (Clip included below) She also has a serialized graphic novel, titled "The Night Bookmobile" which ran in the London Guardian, but will be coming out in book form in 2010.
You may remember I have been wanting to read a graphic novel but they are all either so foreign to me that I'm not comfortable, or so violent I have no interest. Mostly I am turned off by how literally and literarily dark they are. (My foray into comic books never went past Archie and Jughead) But this looks fascinating. It has a Jasper Fforde air about it. Can't wait to discuss, and I have a surprise for April 8th for all of you!

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Anne Provoost

Anne Provoost was born in Belgium in 1964 and studied literature at the University of Leuven (Louvain). Her first novel, My Aunt is a Pilot Whale, she wrote while living in Minneapolis, USA. The book was published in Dutch in 1991 and translated into English three years later. My Aunt is a Pilot Whale was awarded with the Book Lion 1991 and the Interprovincial Prize, 1991, two main Belgian Awards. The novel was translated in German, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Portuguese and Polish. Back in 1991, it was the first book on sexual child abuse for a young audience produced in the Low Countries.
Her second novel, Falling (1994), in which the pitfalls and allurements of extreme right-wing rhetoric are dealt with extensively, was published in Dutch in 1994. The book received five major awards in Belgium and the Netherlands. It was translated into English by John Nieuwenhuizen in 1997, and was made into an English spoken feature film that came out in the fall of 2001, starring Jill Clayburgh and Alice Krige (YouTube trailer). The book Falling has been translated in English, German, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, French, Spanish, Catalan, Portuguese, Polish and Slovenian, and was selected for the honor list of IBBY.
In the Shadow of the Ark ...several different covers!

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

The Last 5 years! Favorite Reads- VI

Best of List: New Favorites from 2009
31 Hours by Masha Hamilton

American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein

Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah

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

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford

Labor Day by Joyce Maynard

The Middle Place by Kelly Corrigan

Mudbound by Hillary Jordan

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

Oxygen by Carol Cassella

People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks

Perfection by Julie Metz

The Photographer by Didier Lefèvre and Emmanuel Guibert

Rainwater by Sandra Brown

A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick

The Rest of Her Life by Laura Moriarty

Rooftops of Tehran by Mahbod Seraji

Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay

Shanghai Girls by Lisa See

Still Alice by Lisa Genova

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski

Testimony by Anita Shreve

The Weight of Silence by Heather Gudenkauf

Saturday, February 6, 2010

The Last 5 years! Favorite Reads- V

2008
Best of List: New Favorites
The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein


Bridge of Sighs by Richard Russo


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


The History of Love by Nicole Krauss


A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah


*Loving Frank by Nancy Horan


Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones


Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult


The Rest of Her Life by Laura Moriarty


Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay


The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski


The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield


*Those Who Save Us by Jenna Blum


*Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin


World Without End by Ken Follett