2-in-1: Fireworks Over Toccoa & The Gift of an Ordinary Day

1. Fireworks Over Toccoa by Jeffrey Stepakoff *

This book has been making rounds all over the blogosphere, so I will not be getting into details as far as the description goes. Lily got married way too young to a man she loved (or so she thought) days before he had to go to Europe to fight in WWII. She spent next three years getting ready for his return until only days before the reunion Lily meets Jake Russo, an Italian immigrant who travels around the country making fireworks displays. He is now in Toccoa, Georgia preparing yet another display when Lily meets him and they both fall in love.

I am in the minority on this book, I'm afraid. I wasn't all that crazy about it. The premise of the novel is actually quite captivating. The idea of such an unexpected love affair in 40's Georgia when the whole country is pretty much touched by the war was what made me pick up the book in the first place. However, I think that the characters were flat and the relationship between Lily and Jake kind of cliche. It almost seemed to me like the author just wanted to get the story on paper ASAP without really delving into any deeper issues. Jake especially could have been such an interesting character with his war experiences and how he dealt with it all afterwards, but I feel that Mr. Stepakoff for some reason didn't want to elaborate on the characters at all and focused on just the quick love affair instead. All in all, the book was too short and simplified for my tastes.

2. The Gift of an Ordinary Day by Katrina Kenison **

Katrina Kenison is a mother of two almost grown-up sons who are on the verge of leaving the family house for good. She is facing the proverbial 'empty nest' and that's what spur her to write about what really matters in life. She writes a memoir in which she takes us through her kids' childhood and teenage years, through selling one house and going off in search of another. There are struggles, triumphs, disappointments and surprises along the way and somehow most of the days Katrina gets reminded that she has exactly what she's supposed to have and is exactly where she's supposed to be.

I really enjoyed reading this contemplative memoir. Ms. Kenison's meditative prose put me in a state of calm and appreciation of my own life. She gives off this vibe that she could be your friend because maybe of the normality of her life, her experiences that are ordinary but also relate to other mothers and wives out there. The best part of it is, despite Katrina's life being just like everyone else's, she makes it extraordinary through her beautiful prose and all of a sudden I found myself enjoying a rainy day (I hate rain normally) or a birdsong in the morning (something I never pay attention to). There is something special in Ms. Kenison's writing that can turn the most mundane into an experience worth reading about.

* I received this book from Shelf Awareness

**I picked up this memoir during my visit to BEA'09 from the publisher.

Falling from the Moon by Lise Marinelli

It is now 2010 and I am still working my way through books I got at BEA'09 (Book Expo America) last May. Talk about procrastination! But I promised the authors I would read their books and would write about them, and no matter how late it is, I stick to my promise. Now, the reason it took me so long to read Falling from the Moon is that I got to meet Lise and the publishers of her book. I talked with the ladies (yes, Windy City Publishers are all female) and honestly fell under their spell. Everyone at the booth seeped excitement about Falling from the Moon and about their company. Ms. Marinelli and the girls from Windy City Publishers were such nice, easy going people that I dreaded not liking the actual novel. Having read the book, I am now only sorry I waited this long.

Falling from the Moon is a coming-of-age story in the '30s and '40s small Michigan town. We follow the lives of two families, the Harris's and the Conklin's, as the children grow up, the adults live with their secrets and almost everyone has a cross to bear. In the center of things is Adeline, an easy going and outspoken girl, a third child of George and Susie Harris and a best friend to Lucy Conklin. Adeline, or Addy as she's called by most of the people, knows how lucky she is to have loving parents, to live a fairly comfortable and worry-free life. She knows because she sees that her best friend Lucy and Lucy's older brother Jack have it much, much worse. Their mother died in childbirth, their father is an aggressive drunkard and they also have to take care of their youngest sister who is brain-damaged. Life is not easy for the Conklin children but they still manage to see life as glass half-full instead of half-empty. As Addy and Lucy grow up to be teenagers, relationships bloom. Lucy's in love with Earl, Addy's older brother and Addy shares a special connection with Jack. That is until Addy inadvertently looses Jack's trust, family tragedy strikes not once but three times and the kids all of a sudden have to grow up faster than they wanted.

I read Falling from the Moon in one day and was sorry that it ended so quickly. Usually, I am not a fan of growing-up, coming-of-age type of stories, but in this instance I have to say I was caught off guard. All the characters were very real, very believable and I could just see myself standing on the outskirts of the town, observing them all as the families struggle through life and try to make the best of what they have. I really liked Adeline, as a little girl and as a high school teenager ready to enter adult life. She is so full of life, she always knows what she wants and really pretty much never whines or complains. I was rooting for her even when her choices were horrible because I just somehow knew she would pull through. When I think of it, there really wasn't a single character in the book that I outright despised. There were a couple of candidates but in the end, nothing was black and white and this is probably what I like the most in any novel.

Lise Marinelli's writing style suited me perfectly. It's crisp, fresh and very straightforward. You won't find any convoluted, unnecessary 'page-fillers' here. Every page, every passage has a purpose, tells a story and leads a reader somewhere meaningful (I can't say where that is, it would spoil the book for future readers). The story is told by different narrators and I know that not all of you like that. Addy is the one that gets the most 'stage-time' but we also get to see the whole picture from other, important points of view. Personally, I like this style and when it's done well (as it is by Ms. Marinelli), I feel that it gives me more opportunities to know each character better. There really isn't anything that I could count as a minus in Falling from the Moon. Well, maybe that it was too short for me and the 'saga junkie' in me already sees the great potential for more stories about the Conklin's and the Harris's. I now hope and keep my fingers crossed that Lise will decide to turn Falling from the Moon into a true generational saga.

********

Lise Marinelli and Windy City Publishers will again be present during Book Expo America '10. If you are planning to attend, make sure you visit their booth to find out for yourself how nice they are.

2-in-1 : The Book Shopper & Tattoo Machine

In this edition of 2-in-1 I will be writing about two memoirs. But the genre is pretty much all these two books have in common.

1. The Book Shopper. A Life in Review by Murray Browne *

I acquired this book while chatting with Mr. Paul Dry whom I met at Book Expo America 2009. I am mentioning this fact first because Mr. Dry is a publisher and his company, Paul Dry Books, Inc put out The Book Shopper and also because he was probably one of the nicest, most courteous people I met there. I felt Mr. Dry was genuinely interested in what I had to say and we really had a nice, intelligent chat. On that premise I accepted Murray Browne's book with a promise of reading it and further sharing my thoughts about it on my blog.

The Book Shopper is pretty much a short, to the point memoir of one person who loves books (not just reading them) and even though he is hesitant to call himself a true bibliophile, Mr. Browne's life pretty much revolves around books. The book's title is self-explanatory because it is mostly reflective of what we'll find inside: the author's experiences and knowledge concerning shopping for books in all kinds of places. Mr. Browne mentions bits and pieces of his 'other' private life but mainly he wants us, readers, to maybe learn something from his adventures in book shopping and to share our mutual love for books.

I honestly enjoyed myself reading The Book Shopper. It is a quick and easy read but filled with passion for books. And because I have this passion, I also like and feel connected to anyone who wants to write about it and does it exponentially better than I would. Even though I didn't necessarily agree with Mr. Browne's book choices (yes, there is a list of books he recommends), I was pleasantly surprised at the accuracy of some of his observations about bookstores, about people who love books and about people who work in used bookstores. It was a lot of fun to read

this witty recounting of one person's journey through the world of book shopping and if you are looking for something light but intelligent to read, this might be the book.

2. Tattoo Machine. Tall Tales, True Stories, and My Life in Ink by Jeff Johnson **

This is a memoir about...surprise, surprise...tattoos. Jeff Johnson is a tattoo artist (or a tattooer) who decided to put his experiences in tattoo world on paper. I wanted to read the book because I have a tattoo and even though it's the only one I ever will have (that's right, getting tattoos is not addictive and a person can live with just one), I am fascinated by them. Jeff Johnson tells a story of what tattoo artists really think of us, peons wanting to have one and how his life revolved around tattoo shops, pranks, drugs, sex and all the cliches one might expect from someone who does tattoos.

The book was okay. That's it. I did smirk here and there but I was mostly left dissatisfied and felt at times outright offended by Mr. Johnson. His attitude of 'I'm better than you are because I am a tattoo artist' really grated on my nerves. As you probably can tell from the last sentence in the previous paragraph, I was being intentionally snarky. Truth be told, if you want to read about the world of tattooing from the insider, you may want to read this one but I would recommend perusing the library instead of a bookstore. The content is from time to time quite interesting, some incidents from Mr. Johnson's life funny but I mostly had a feeling that the author felt lost himself while writing the book, because it felt disjointed at times, there were chapters or fragments within a chapter for which I couldn't quite I understand the reason. They mostly felt like 'fillers' just to meet the word requirements. Anyway, it's not a horrible book, it is readable but because of the tone of superiority, I took it personally and feel mostly negative about it.

* I received this book from the publisher for review.

** I won this book through GoodReads giveaway program.

"KIKI" Magazine - for girls with style and substance

When I went to Book Expo America 2009 back in May, I didn't fully realize the wide range of products I'd encounter there. It was amazing and I decided that, while all the major authors were already discussed, the publishers, authors and other products I learned about that have not received their fair share publicity in the blogosphere deserve a spotlight on my blog.

First one I want to tell you about is "KIKI" magazine. I don't usually talk about anything other than books on my blog (actually, it's more like never) but there were a few factors that made my decision to discuss this magazine pretty easy.

First of all, the people representing "KIKI" in the booth were one of the nicest and most friendly group I got to talk to at BEA. The enthusiasm for their product was obvious and quite contagious, I think they were a perfect example of what true passion can do to promoting a product. I really just wanted to stay there for the remainder of the day and chat.

Secondly, I am a mom of a girl who will soon be entering the world of teens. She is 10 right now and I think this age is one of the most important but also one of the most confusing to girls. They are trying to find themselves in the world and sadly the mass media, even the ones targeting this age specific audience, is doing more harm than good. I cannot tell you the countless times when I'd actually consider taking Karolina (my daughter) to the grocery store because of all the crazy magazines flooding the register area, many of them displaying all the dirty laundry and indecent pictures on the front pages. Even magazines for girls her age are filled with unreal images of teen celebrities, all rich, gorgeous, successful but all of them also discussing their intimate relationships with opposite sex starting at the very early age, wearing atrocious amounts of make-up, showing off hair done better than even I will ever dream of having and most importantly they all look like clones!

This is where "KIKI" steps in. It's a magazine for girls 8 and up and I read a whole issue and I can tell you than it's easily appropriate for even 12 year-olds. All the girls shown in this magazine are girls you see everyday on the street, at school and what girls should look like, no crazy make-up, very natural, and not crazy, skinny 'bamboo sticks' the celebrity world would want my daughter to believe is the norm. "KIKI" shows that it is not. As a matter of fact, its main mission is to give girls an alternative, a way out of the plague of body image, social status and material lifestyle issues. And I'm all for it.

Lastly, "KIKI" is really a cool, fun magazine (although I'm not sure if I'm even supposed to use 'cool' anymore).

Here are some samples of what "KIKI" is all about from their summer issue:

That's 'Biz Buzz' with fun instructions on how to create your own website (something tells me I could use it myself).

And this is 'World Beat' with articles on Henna and Bindi, since the summer issue of KIKI visits Hong Kong and talk all about Mumbai.

*It has a great variety of topics: art, design, history, personal hygiene, profiles of girls from around the world and of all ethnicities, even business and finances.

*It gives girls learning opportunities in "design-you-own" activity section, and it's not only clothes they're designing, they can plan vacation, learn to build their own businesses and even design sports equipment.

*The design of the whole magazine is very lively but very put together too. It's easy to navigate the pages and the combination of photography, fun graphics and interesting content makes it a pleasurable read.

So what are you waiting for? Go ahead, visit their website: http://www.kikimag.com/ and judge for yourself if you don't believe me. And make sure you read the letter to parents from Jamie Glyche Bryant, the founder of "KIKI".

BEA '09 - blessings and disappointments

Let me start with two huge, personal disappointments connected to my BEA experience. I planned on going to BEA two days in a row, Friday and Saturday. As it turned out, I only managed to go on Friday. Here’s why: being a mom of a ten-year-old, I always have to plan things around her. All the moms reading it will understand the mundane reality. This was mine. I could not take her with me and I also could not very well leave her with just anybody. Due to the nature of my profession (I am a translator who works from home, on the computer most of the time) I have never had the need for a stable, full-time babysitter. Today, it has come to bite me in the bum-bum. On Friday it was a little easier since she was at school and my mom agreed to stay with her afterwards. Today (Saturday) was supposed to be my daughter’s weekend with her father. You know what’s coming next. We both got stood up. I admit that my naiveté got the better of me as I really should have known better counting on an extremely unreliable and thoughtless person. There was a reason for our divorce after all.

Because my plans for today are ruined, I am very sad and disappointed. The biggest disappointment is that I will not get to meet all the wonderful bloggers I was so looking forward to meet. The BEA is a huge and very overwhelming event, especially for people like me, who find crowded spaces overpowering and stress inducing. Therefore it took me some time to find myself there, then to go to significant places and meet interesting writers and publisher and by the time it was over, it was too late for me to go and proactively search for the bloggers even though I tried to be on the lookout throughout the whole day. I simply had in mind that the whole Saturday would be dedicated to meeting with the girls and spending some time with them. As it turned out, I am not there. C’est La Vie!

Now, enough with the ramblings of the unquiet mind. I am still very happy and feel blessed that I was able to make it to BEA at all. Thankfully, I live close enough to New York City to just jump on the train and be there within an hour. It wasn’t awfully expensive and time consuming. Otherwise, I wouldn’t even dream of coming. I also met and got a chance to chat with some fantastic writers and publishers whom I will be spotlighting individually in the near future. They were very nice and approachable people, and it was a great pleasure to meet them. I have met with three publishers (well, I visited more than that) which are not as yet very well known but it is my great hope that they will be soon as the products they offer seem wonderful and deserve more notice. Over the next few weeks I will be posting reviews of the books, hopefully interviews with the authors and introductions to the new magazine and book publishers.

That’s that for now. I am sure that by the time you read all the posts about BEA ’09 you’ll get slightly sick of it, therefore I don’t intend on boring you to death in this first post.