The Printed Page

Here I am yet again pondering. I’m beginning to think this is the best decision I’ve made this year. I know we’re only 23 days in but the relief at going this route is tremendous.

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Today’s ponderings:

I started  The Life Plan by Sybil Baker yesterday.

Here’s a snippet from the web site: Like many women, Kat Miller dreams of having a satisfying career, a loving family, and a house of her own. But Kat has taken things further than most, documenting her dreams in a “Life Plan,” so that nothing will go wrong. Yet something has: Dan, her husband of five years. Kat suspects that Dan, recently unemployed, is spending more time in yoga class with his beautiful classmate than he is looking for a job. When Dan announces that he has enrolled in a massage course in Thailand, Kat is convinced she has to go with him to save her marriage.

So I sat down last night with The Life Plan and read 3/4 of the book. That would be through Chapter 18 of 25. I can’t tell you how many pages as Kindles don’t have page numbers (it’s listed as 192 pgs). They run on section numbers so that no matter what type size you change it to you can always go back to exactly the same spot by using a section number. So far so good. It’s fast paced and what I’d consider a good beach book. Nothing too mind challenging but it’s holding my interest. It must be if I got that far in one sitting.

A bit about what I’ve read to this point…

Kat’s ‘Life Plan’ has gone terribly off track. In fact so far off track she might want junk it altogether or write a new one. All she wanted was a loving, one-woman man, a beautiful home and children. Not too much to ask considering that’s the dream a lot of people have. Well it appears that Dan wants his cake and his Kat. Dan wants to spread the love, literally, but come home to his loving Kat. She, on the other hand, just wants Dan and her ‘Life Plan’. Kat has followed Dan to Thailand where he’s supposedly pursuing a career in massage. Yeah, right! If we let our minds wander, as they’re wont to do, we get a pretty good idea of where this massage is headed. Kat’s quest to redeem Dan is aided by her best friend Susan, a divorce attorney. Maybe aided isn’t the best description as she’s advocating leaving him and moving on but so far she’s standing by Kat.

Along the way Kat’s mom has Kat worried.  She’s taken up with Nigel whom Kat’s just sure is after mom’s money. Mom has taken off on a Mexican vacation with Nigel, returned home, opted for early retirement, bought an RV and is set to spend her golden years with Nigel. BTW – she’s just meet Nigel. Living for the moment kind of thing.

Like Kat doesn’t have enough to worry about between Dan and her mom. Along comes Jean Paul who is helping Kat or is he?

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Next up will be Soul Catcher by Michael White. I am so stoked to get reading this one. Not only am I big fan of civil war history but it’s February selection for the Historical Fiction Lovers book club at Face Book. Jennifer at The Literate Housewife Review started this book club last December (2 months ago) and already it’s been selected as the January Book Club of the Month. Way to go Jenn! Read her post here.

From Amazon: Like Huck Finn, 17-year-old Augustus Cain lights out for the territory, leaving his father’s farm for the adventure of the Mexican-American War. But the carnage of combat strips him of his idealism and the full use of one of his legs, leaving him addicted to laudanum. He soon falls back on his uncanny skill for tracking runaway slaves, vowing after every job that he will give up the occupation. But over the course of decades, his love of liquor and gambling inevitably leaves him low on funds and in need of another job, and so he sets out again, this time in search of Rosetta, a proud, light-skinned house slave dearly prized by her owner. Over the course of the long journey from Virginia to Boston and back, Augustus forges an intense bond with Rosetta, who has suffered sexual abuse and worse at the hands of her owner; for the first time, Augustus is able to fully see the sordidness of his profession. Historical novelist White’s heartbreaking story is slow to build but devastating in its final impact.

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Well now look what I’ve gone and done, silly me! I was copying Day 2 to Day 3 and accidentally copied something else in it’s place. Maybe I’ve crossed the international date line and Day 2 just magically performed a disappearing act. Oh well not much to be done about it now. Let’s see I:

Finished Silent on the Moor by Deanna Raybourn. It turned out to be a really good book after all. So for those of you I might have scared off on my Day 1 Ponderings post come on back. I read the second 1/2 in one sitting. Reading it straight through from page 275 to the end, page 528.

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I started a new book and new-to-me author. I’m reading The Life Plan by Sybil Baker.

Like many women, Kat Miller dreams of having a satisfying career, a loving family, and a house of her own. But Kat has taken things further than most, documenting her dreams in a “Life Plan,” so that nothing will go wrong. Yet something has: Dan, her husband of five years. Kat suspects that Dan, recently unemployed, is spending more time in yoga class with his beautiful classmate than he is looking for a job. When Dan announces that he has enrolled in a massage course in Thailand, Kat is convinced she has to go with him to save her marriage.

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This week’s featured book here at Noontime Book Chat is The Ride by Jane Kennedy Sutton. It’s just over 200 pages and a fast-paced, wild read. J. Kaye and I have both finished reading and decided today would a perfect day to cap off this chat.

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This is a book to get the chat juices flowing. I know both J. Kaye and myself got our knickers in a twist over this one yesterday (check out the chat). If you’re looking to get your face-to-face book group talking this just might be ticket though be prepared to not like any of the main characters.

But to pick up where I left off Tuesday…

Barbie has decided to leave Ken, thank goodness for this small miracle. Finally the girl has her brain cells working. She’s decided to embark on a road trip with Michael, the love of her life after only knowing him 7 days. Oops maybe the brain cells are starting to backfire on her. But before this road trip starts Ken convinces Barbie, none to politely I might add, to assist him with his backyard roller coaster project by being a guinea pig for a trial ride. Well of course things literally go off track and, lo’ and behold, Michael is right there to save the day. It’s uncanny (ha!) how he just appears when the damsel is in distress.

Mr Handsome guy swoops in, saves Barbie and off on their merry way they go. Things are moving along quite nicely for Barbie. Wined, dined and ravished. For her things are looking up. This is best she’s been treated in years. But alas as we all know when things are looking this good trouble’s right around the corner. And big trouble it is. I always thought there was something a little ‘off’ with Mr. Handsome guy. His shady dealings make an appearance in true con artist fashion and poor judgement Barbie is left empty-handed.

But not to worry for too long. Barbie manages to land with her feet firmly planted, standing upright to face another day. The ending was tidy and tied up in a big bow for Barbie, almost too easy after everything else that has gone on.

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This book was addictive reading. It’s like a drug you know is bad for you but you still want it. I call it a ‘rubber neckin’ book. It’s like the accident you just know you should look away from but can’t. It just keeps drawing you back for another peek. Even though I didn’t like any of the characters the author does a credible job of writing so that you want to, almost have to, know how this story turns out. I was a compulsive page turner.

The men, Ken and Michael, were down right despicable, cruel, mean, evil and under-handed. I’ve even run out of adjectives for Ken. While Michael isn’t nearly as bad as Ken he isn’t a saint by any stretch of the imagination.

And Barbie well it’s better that you don’t even get me started on her characater. Let’s just say her thought processes could use some vast improvement.

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Just in case you missed any of this week’s chat:

Monday: J. Kaye’s book blog Tuesday: The Printed Page/Marcia Wednesday: J. Kaye’s book blog Thursday: J. Kaye’s book blog & here at The Printed Page

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Title: The Ride Author: Jane Kennedy Sutton Publisher: ArcheBooks Publishing Publication date: August ’08 Page: 228 Genre: fiction Challenges: ARC/New author/eBook

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This has been a wonderful and truly fun book event experience. I’d like to thank J. Kaye for co-hosting with me and putting up with my brainless Barbie moment Monday.

I look forward to doing this again the 2nd week of February with Dar at Peeking Between the Pages. Our featured book will be Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay. Ms. de Rosnay has written a guest post to be published Friday of book chat week.

I’m pondering, hence the title, trying something new here at The Printed Page. Mostly this comes from a strong dislike of writing books reviews. Ugh! Writing reviews kind of reminds me of homework, not one of my fonder memories. Those nights of sitting at the table struggling through math are better left in the far corners of my mind. I’m finding I’d rather talk about what I’m reading and how I feel about it in snippets rather than waiting until the end. No stress book blogging. And blogging itself is another driving force behind Ponderings. I’m not the writer in my family but I’ve found that I really enjoy putting words down on virtual paper. Even if it’s only a jot or two for the day.

I expect Ponderings will be a mishmash of things, all book related. Ponderings may appear daily or every couple of days. I don’t really have a plan right now so I’ll just go off and ponder.

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Today’s ponderings

J. Kaye and I just finished up our Wednesday portion of Noontime Book Chat. Boy do we both feel the same way about the book we’re reading this week, The Ride. It’s a short one, only a little over 200 pages so we’re finishing a day early and will post our final thoughts at both on our blogs on Thursday instead of Friday. It got our book juices flowing. Stop by tomorrow and I’ll have links so that you can follow the chat.

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As I don’t do very good reading more than one book at a time I set aside my ARC of Silent on the Moor by Deanna Raybourn to read the NBC book. I have to admit I’m not finding this one nearly as interesting as I did the first 2 Lady Julia Grey mysteries. There doesn’t seem to be much of a ‘draw’ to hold me to it though I’m only 1/2 way through with another 1/2 to go. While the give and take between Julia and Brisbane is there it’s minor compared to the rest of the story and I feel their relationship is integral to this series. Actually Brisbane hasn’t been around much and Julia has spent a great deal of time filling her days with busy work. They aren’t working together to solve mysteries as they did in books 1 & 2. Brisbane fills more like a minor character than a major player.

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Though I love series reading I sometimes find it difficult to follow story lines that cross books. This was main reason I didn’t want to read HP until all 7 books were published. But my spouse, being the good spouse that his is, bought me books 2 and 4 once upon a time. Naturally having them in house meant books 1 & 3 needed to join them. So as Harry’s story progressed with announced delivery dates I found myself going back and reading the previous book to reacquaint myself with plot lines and characters. I’m not big on rereading as there’s so much out there I want to read. If I reread to keep up with story lines I’d be denying myself the pleasure of some other really great books. Besides I don’t keep books so I’ve had to hunt up the last book in the series just to read the current one.

A good example is the story line between Julia and Brisbane. I was able to follow it without any gaps before because I read books 1 & 2 in a row. Now book 3 is here and due to writing/publishing lags I can’t recall in detail their issues because I’ve read so many other books between books 2 and 3 in this series. I know they left things rocky at the end of book 2 but the finer points escape me. I find I do better with characters that repeat but not particular story lines. Take Lt. Dallas, Rouke and the cast of characters from the In Death series. While it’s nice to know the cast of characters and some of the background you don’t to have to have with started with book 1 to read book 15 or even book 20. They can be read stand alone. The same for Vince Flynn’s Mitch Rapp series. I love Mitch and have followed him from the start but I could pick up the next in line and feel I’m not missing any of the story line if I haven’t read the other books.

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Another pondering that you’re reading here first is I’m taking a hiatus from Up For Grabs. This is the first I’ve written about it. My mini hiatus in December opened my eyes to how much time it takes to maintain that site. While I’ve enjoyed it, for most part, other book things are calling to me and the time spent at Up For Grabs means less time devoted somewhere else. I’ve notice that my reading time is fast disappearing and that is one aspect of my live that I won’t let slip away.

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From Wikipedia Did You Know

…that in English language works the table of contents is at the beginning of a book, but in French and Spanish ones it is at the back, by the index?

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Jill at Breaking the Spine hosts Waiting on Wednesday. My selection last week was Kristin Hannah’s True Colors so in keeping with the theme of women’s fiction this week I’ve selected the newest from another of my favorite authors. This week’s pre-publication ‘can’t-wait-to-read’ selection is:

Title: While My Sister Sleeps Author: Barbara Delinsky Publication date: February ’09 Women’s fiction

From Fantastic Fiction: Molly and Robin Snow are sisters in the prime of their lives. So when Molly learns that Robin – an Olympic athlete and the favorite child – has suffered a massive heart attack, the news couldn’t be more shocking. At the hospital, the Snow family receives a grim prognosis: Robin may never regain consciousness.

Feelings of guilt and jealousy flare up as Robin’s family struggles to cope and their relationships are put to the ultimate test. It’s up to Molly to make the tough decisions, and she soon makes discoveries that destroy some of her most cherished beliefs about the sister she thought she knew.

Once again Delinsky brings us a masterful family portrait, filled with thought-provoking ideas about the nature of life itself, how emotions affect the decisions we make, and how letting go can be the hardest thing to do and the greatest expression of love all at the same time.

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From Ms. Delinsky’s web site:

At 27, Molly Snow is the youngest of three siblings. Feisty but hard-working, she has always been overshadowed by her older sister, Robin, an elite marathoner who is favored to shine at the upcoming Olympic trials. When Robin suffers a heart attack during a training run and fails to regain consciousness, her family is devastated.

As Molly’s parents fold under the heartbreak and her brother retreats into the cool reserve that is threatening his marriage, Molly is the one left standing. By default, she is thrust into the role of family spokesperson, not only with friends and the media, but at Snow Hill, the family’s hugely successful tree and plant nursery. More crucially, Molly becomes her sister’s voice when Robin can’ t speak for herself. In the process, she finds her own voice.

While My Sister Sleeps is more than a coming-of-age story. Taking place over six days, this novel explores a family in crisis, peeling away layers of relationships to expose one startling truth after another. Mother to daughter, sister to sister – it is a story of rising to a challenge and making hard decisions, then loving enough to let go

First of I’m offering my sincere apologies to J. Kaye and all Noontime Book Chatters here on my blog as I did tonight over at J. Kaye’s blog. I take the blame for totally being inept and messing up the book event this week. I’m letting J. Kaye decide whether she’d like to continue, in some abbreviated format, or discontinue the chat. Unfortunately I didn’t complete my homework before offering to participate and the blame fully rests on my shoulders. While I can’t undo what’s been done I can try to make amends for the error of my ways. I won’t be here at Noon MST today (Tuesday) as I have to work and therein lies the problem. I’ve posted my thoughts about the book so far and responded to J. Kaye’s post from Monday.

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What I found most interesting as I sat and read her comments tonight is that to a degree we feel the same about this book. I’ve read 13 of the 40 chapters or almost a 1/3 in one sitting. At times I found myself wanting to put this book down and walk away it.Yet there’s another part of me that keeps compulsively turning pages. For me I think it’s the expectation I have that this marriage will turn around, right itself or at the least that Barbie will ‘wake up and smell the roses’ so to speak. While sometimes that isn’t the case this is fiction and I’d like to write a happy ending. I believe the author will do that eventually. We just have to the get through all the burdensome stuff along the way. There isn’t one character yet in the book I like.

********** Barbie is in a disastrous marriage. Actually it’s beyond a disastrous marriage. Then due to a death in the family she acquires the financial means to leave but is paralyzed by fear, lack of self-confidence, and very, very low self-esteem. I want drag this woman from her life and save her even as she refuses to save herself. Another major issue for Barbie is the estrangement from her daughter due to a parental disagreement over lifestyle choices. Then to stir the story some more throw into the mix the tiny tidbit about Barbie’s aunt and/or mother and you start to envision where we might be headed.

The very same day that she learns about her new wealth she meets a handsome, intriguing stranger who offers her the attention and affection she’s starved for. In typical fiction fashion things heat up fast and she’s off and running to grab the golden key before someone slams on the brakes. Mr. Handsome and Ditzy Barbie form a tentative friendship/relationship. But hold on a second there are things in Mr. Handsome’s past and some of his actions that leads one to believe he may not be what he appears. I haven’t gotten far enough into the story to find out where this plot line is headed.

********** If you missed the Monday post and comments be sure to check out J. Kaye’s blog here. P.s. I live in a mountain time zone.

Thank you to everyone who stops by Mailbox Monday. Whether you comment or visit I appreciate your taking the time to drop in.

Here’s what I got last week:

Women’s fiction/chick lit ~ Houston, We Have a Problema by Gwendolyn Zepeda

Historical fiction ~ The Duchess by Amanda Foreman

Women’s fiction ~ True Colors by Kristin Hannah

Non-fiction ~ Regina’s Closet: Finding My Grandmother’s Secret Journal by Diana M. Raab

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Side notes:

Lorraine Kleinwaks, VP, Book Wish Foundation sent me a note asking if I’d spread the word about a holiday book campaign for the refugees in Darfur. As reading is an important part of my life I wanted to pass this along to my all my visitors. Thank you to everyone who helped me support this charity by leaving a comment here at Mailbox Monday over the last three weeks. We raised $60 for this charity. 

I have a new site giveaway going on at Up For Grabs. I’m giving away 10 signed copies of Etta by Gerald Kolpan. Check it out here.

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What books came into your house last week? Don’t forget to leave a link to your Mailbox post or a list of books if you don’t have a blog.

Please join J. Kaye and myself  for this week’s Noontime Book Chat featuring  The Ride by Jane Kennedy Sutton.

J. Kaye is hosting the chat at her blog on Monday and Wednesday. I’m hosting here at The Printed Page on Tuesday and Thursday. We both will have wrap up posts on our respective blogs this Friday. We look forward to having you join us.

Seduce Me at Sunrise (The Hathaways, Book 2) Web site for Lisa Kleypas St. Martin, September ’08 384 pages Historical fiction/romance/bodice ripper Book #4/09 Challenges: Ebook **********

From Amazon: Kev Merripen has longed for the beautiful, well-bred Winnifred Hathaway ever since her family rescued him from the brink of death when he was just a boy. But this handsome Gypsy is a man of mysterious origins—and he fears that the darkness of his past could crush delicate, luminous Win. So Kev refuses to submit to temptation…and before long Win is torn from him by a devastating twist of fate.

Then, Win returns to England…only to find that Kev has hardened into a man who will deny love at all costs. Meantime, an attractive, seductive suitor has set his sights on Win. It’s now or never for Kev to make his move. But first, he must confront a dangerous secret about his destiny—or risk losing the only woman he has lived for…

Amazon rating: 65 reviews/4.5 stars **********

Me: I was suffering from a fairly serious case of reading doldrums to start this year. Some of my readers suggested that a trashy novel might be just what I needed to get me out of my funk or maybe something light-hearted and fun. Thank you readers! I’m officially over the doldrums. I discovered Lisa’s books last year and I’ve been hooked ever since. While I won’t necessarily classify them as ‘trashy’ they do have their heated, scandalous bedroom moments which I won’t deny I enjoy. And even though the boy always gets the girl there’s usually a surprise or two along the way. This was the perfect book to put me back in a reading frame of mind.

Today I’d like to welcome Holly Shumas to The Printed Page. Ms. Shumas is the author of two women’s fiction books. Her current release, Love and Other Natural Disasters, is the subject of today’s guest post. Welcome Holly!

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In my new novel, Love and Other Natural Disasters, Eve is 8 months pregnant when she discovers her husband has been having an emotional affair for the past year. While she’s devastated, the people around her have more mixed emotions. Some wonder if she’s taking it all too hard; after all, he didn’t sleep with the other woman. So what’s the big deal?

It’s a legitimate question. What is an emotional affair, and what’s the big deal? In addition to being a writer, I’m also a marriage and family therapist so it’s a question I’ve helped couples confront. One person is in my office saying, “But I didn’t sleep with her (or him)” and feeling truly misunderstood, and the other is saying, “It doesn’t matter! You shared everything else!” and feeling truly misunderstood. With sexual affairs, we all know where the line is; with emotional affairs, it’s much fuzzier.

Here’s my definition of an emotional affair: It’s having a relationship with someone outside of your committed relationship that involves some degree of secrecy (i.e. your partner doesn’t know how much time you spend talking to, e-mailing, or thinking about that other person), and the level of intimacy is high enough to threaten the connection with your partner. It doesn’t necessarily involve sexual attraction, though usually it does. Even if the other person didn’t initially seem that attractive, all those long talks and the feeling that you’ve met someone who “really gets you” can push it into the arena of fantasy. The other person starts to seem like a respite from any issues or problems in your committed relationship. One of the biggest dangers is that because all that energy is going into someone else, things in the primary relationship never get resolved. Instead of going back to a partner and saying, “You know, I’m unhappy about x, y, and z, let’s work on that,” the attention is going to someone else so the problems just fester; disconnection grows and the relationship falls further into disrepair. Emotional affairs, like sexual affairs, distract people from the hard work of a long-term commitment.

It was a great subject to get to explore in my novel, which I hope you’ll enjoy. I could say a lot more on the subject, and I do, over at my website: Holly Shumas. It’d be great to see you there.

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********** Thank you Miriam for arranging this guest post and tour stop. Be sure and stop by Hachette Book Group and check out all the great books they offer.

********** Today’s other tour stops:

http://www.writeforareader.edublogs.org

http://www.bermudaonion.wordpress.com

http://booksamyreads.blogspot.com

http://cafeofdreams.blogspot.com/

http://ablogofbooks.blogspot.com/

http://www.acircleofbooks.blogspot.com

http://athomewithbooks.blogspot.com

http://www.myfriendamysblog.com

http://thetometraveller.blogspot.com/

http://bookingmama.blogspot.com/

http://2kidsandtiredbooks.blogspot.com

http://www.skrishnasbooks.com

http://enroutetolife.blogspot.com/

http://www.anovelmenagerie.com

http://printedpage.us

http://cindysloveofbooks.blogspot.com/

http://luanne-abookwormsworld.blogspot.com/

http://bookopolis.blogspot.com

http://www.bookthoughtsbylisa.blogspot.com

http://exlibrisbb.blogspot.com/

http://jennsbookshelf.blogspot.com/

http://www.marjoleinbookblog.blogspot.com

http://linussblanket.com