Just wanted to let you know about a few that I thought were pretty great.

Of course, Stephen King is a gimme.  He has several collections of short stories and the short story is something that he’s kind of passionate about.  A lot of times when people say that they haven’t read Stephen King because they’re just not sure about him, I recommend a short story collection so that they can get a taste of his writing without a commitment to a 1000 page book.  Some of my favorites collections by him are Nightmares and Dreamscapes, Night Shift, Everything’s Eventual, and Four Past Midnight.  All of his are good stuff though and if you are new to him or to short stories, this would probably be a good place to start.

Another classic is Nine Stories by J.D. Salinger.  I read this several years ago and thought it was good but didn’t really realize how much it impacted me.  There are stories here that come back to me over and over and over.  They are kind of these perfect, model short stories.  They give you a glimpse of a life while blurring some edges and telling a full story.  The first one, Perfect Day for Banafish, really is one of the best short stories I’ve ever read.  So, so good.

I was first introduced to Elliot Perlman though Seven Types of Ambiguity and it was pretty much love at first sight.  I thought that mammoth of a book was great and when I found out that he also had a short story collection, I was totally sold.  The Reasons I Won’t Be Coming is a collection of stories that from the descriptions just sound totally quirky, but end up having real heart behind them.  They are normal people in semi-normal situations and he just takes these ordinary lives and writes about them in a beautiful, poignant way.  For some of the stories, that really really works.  Some of them, not so much.  Worth reading the full collection though, mostly because I like what he’s trying to say.

I started The Whole Story and Other Stories by Ali Smith in the bookstore, and in a very uncharacteristic move, walked straight to the check-out and bought it.  I liked it that much.  It’s a skinny little book but it is kind of beautiful and I really loved the stories.  The first one, The Universal Story, will stop you in your tracks. So frigging good.  All of them are good, but for me, this one was worth buying the collection for.  So, so good.

I thought that The Memory Keeper’s Daughter was only so-so, but I thought that The Secrets of a Fire King by Kim Edwards was pretty great.  What struck me about this collection and what I remember most is how each story was its own deal, but that similar themes kept popping up in one story after the other.  There was a little spark every time there was this feeling of “recognition” and I think that it made the collection so much more powerful as a whole.  That flow took some mediocre stories and bumped them up a notch.  There were a few great stories here, but not all of them.  I still enjoyed it enough to include it on this little list, so that should say something, right? Right.

I just sat here and tried to brainstorm a couple more but came up with some stuff that’s good but not great, and I don’t want you to start off on the wrong foot if short stories are something new for you.  Give one of these collections a go and let me know what you think.  Anyone have any amazing recommendations that I’ve missed here?  Let me know!

Homecoming, by Cynthia Voight

Before I tell you about this book, let me say that finding the cover that I remember it having (the pinkish one that I posted up there) was a giant pain.  I even re-bought this book recently at the goodwill and it had this cover, but the one that I found every time I searched was this:

Isn’t that kind of way cool and trendy looking?  They did the whole series with these kind of covers.  If I were a kid, I’d go totally crazy for these books. Again.

Anyway.

I loved this book.  I think that there were three or four in the series about this family and I know that I read all of them, but I must have read this first one 20 times, no exaggeration.  I think that the first couple of times that I read it, I was probably too young to really “get” it and it is one of the first books that I remember that kept revealing new stuff to me as I continued to read it.

Dicey is just a young teen (maybe 14 or so?) when her totally unstable mother up and leaves Dicey and her three younger siblings at a shopping mall.  She just goes in, leaves the kids in the car and never comes back.  When they realize what has happened and that they are solo now, Dicey totally steps up and starts taking care of her younger siblings.  She gets into her head that they need to head north, where they have some relatives, so she leads these kids on this journey.  They have 10 or 15 bucks and they just do what they need to do.  They sleep and camp in random places, eat random food and just make it day-to-day.

What I remember mostly was that Dicey was in-freaking-credible.  Seriously, one of the best young adult heroines that I’ve come across even to this day.  I just remember being totally struck on how strong and good that she was.  She just got up every day and cheered up her siblings.  She didn’t know where their next meal was going to come from, but she didn’t let anything slow her down or make her second guess.  Even when she got to her relative’s house and they, um, were not what she expected, she didn’t crumble.  She was just awesome.

After thinking about this book and looking at the covers I’ve gotten myself all excited.  I wouldn’t be surprised if I pick this one up soon for a re-read.  It’s that good.

To participate in Flashback Friday, head over here to get the info on what’s going on.  After posting your flashback, come back here and comment with a link to your blog so everyone can enjoy!

Pregnancy Sucks for Men: What to do when your miracle makes you BOTH miserable, by Jeff Kimes

Well, ladies and gentlemen, I can officially say that I am a good husband. Yes, I can stand in line with the great ones. What’s more is that I didn’t have to risk my life to earn this prestigious and rare title. There were no heroic efforts or feats of derring-do. You see, I did exactly what I supposed to do; I read a book about my wife’s pregnancy while she was pregnant.

The book I read was Pregnancy Sucks: For Men. It was a great read and I loved it. Here’s why:

It was no easy to task to find a pregnancy book I could relate to. There are literally bookshelves, libraries even, filled with pages and pages of text written about birth and delivery. There are sections in bookstores containing mountains of books about pregnancy and for every one hundred of the books intended for girls only, there is one book marketed for guys. Most of them are terribly-written and offer little practical information. In fact, at this point in time most are out-of-date.

Pregnancy Sucks: For Men is not like this at all.

I found it in Barnes and Noble one day after deciding I was going to be a good and faithful husband by reading a book about pregnancy. Or, I probably realized that I was about to walk into a hornet’s nest of a situation and wanted evidence to remind Jacki of what a great husband I was as the due date inched closer and the hormones quickly spun out of control. I picked up the book and started reading. In place of the cold, dry information found in most of the books, there is a distinct and discernible voice behind the letters and words. When reading this book, it almost feels like my dad or best friend is telling me things I need to know and things for which I need to be prepared.

I read a few pages, closed the book so I wouldn’t ruin it, walked over the cash register and purchased it.

As I started to read, I noticed the book is conversational and isn’t afraid to say things it probably shouldn’t at times. In fact, I wonder how many times the author found himself in the doghouse after his wife realized he revealed more than he was supposed to reveal about her pregnancy. The stories were entertaining and, most of the time, I was able to empathize with what the author went through.

That seems to be the single biggest reason why I loved this book. Everything about it  seemed to echo my own experiences thus far as the husband of a pregnant woman. There is a sense of being coached by a friend who’s been through it before. I loved that.

The book itself is broken up smartly into different chapters that reflect each stage of the baby-making process: conception, months 1-9 and one chapter dedicated to after the baby is born. The chapters lined up PERFECTLY with what was happening in my life and my wife’s pregnancy. I read a chapter every month and used the book as a guidebook/preparation manual for the craziness that was about to unfold. I probably could have read it all in one afternoon, but I figured I’d forget most of it if I didn’t spread out the reading over time.

There is great advice on cooking (which I’m terrible at), cleaning, and other “womanly” chores that I normally feel somewhat less than motivated to help Jacki with. The author breaks down, in easy-to-understand terms, what’s going on in your wife’s body and what you can do to help avoid a DEFCON 1 situation. It’s a fresh relief after being so clueless in the beginning of this pregnancy. Now, I feel like an expert!

Of course, for all the good things I loved about the book, there were a couple of things I didn’t like. They were mostly pet peeves. The author, at times, fell back on stereotypical sports metaphors. Also, because of the length, some things are only glossed over. This is both a blessing (doesn’t take long to read) and a curse (you don’t get the full information sometimes). And, there is surprisingly little out-of-date information, despite a 2004 publish date, but at times talk about video tapes and pay phones reminds you that the book is older than it seems.

Despite these nitpicks, I’d heartily recommend the book to anyone who asks. It’s funny, short and a great substitute for a friend who has gone through it all before.

To wrap it up, I think this book is, ultimately, for guys who don’t know what they’ve gotten themselves into. And, If you’ve got a pregnant wife, you should already know this means you.

**Note from Jacki: Awhile back, I reviewed Pregnancy Sucks, which was written by Joanne Kimes, Jeff’s wife.

The Book: The Doctor and the Diva, by Adrienne McDonnell

The Story: Sometimes I avoid certain historical fiction only because I feel like it tells the same story over and over.  This story, I have to say, was totally unique and unlike anything I had read before.

It is the early 1900’s and Erika (an opera singer looking to further her career) and her husband Peter have been trying to conceive since they got married.  A child really is all that Peter wants.  Erika is on-board, but as the story progresses, you  kind of start to see that she’d just as soon have a big opera career before she has a baby.

On a tip from Erika’s brother, they start to visit a fertility doctor, Dr. Ravell.  He’s had success helping couples get pregnant when they thought for sure that they could not.  He was practicing several cutting edge techniques, including invetro fertilization.  Who know that that that existed in the early 1900’s?  As the treatments progress,  Dr. Ravell discovers that Peter will never be able to have children but has found this out on the sly and doesn’t have the guts to tell the couple.  Here’s where he’s faced with a series of tough decisions.

All three of these characters, in fact, are faced with tough decisions.  They are these complicated people who are all just trying to do what is right, even when those things seem to counteract each other at every turn.

What I Thought: I kind of thought that this book was amazing.  I know that you guys know this about me, but nothing makes a book for me like good character development, and that was just incredible here.  Erika kind of goes from this meek, annoying starlet wanna-be to this real woman with real emotions going through a seriously tough situation.  I couldn’t help but put myself in her place.  The decision to have children and put aside all these dreams that you had for your life had to have been so hard and the author fleshes all that out perfectly.  Her struggles, her talent, her needs, they are all just laid out there and the reader is left to make the decision: is she seriously selfish or is she just doing what she thinks is right?

Same with Peter.  At first, he just seems like this controlling, obsessed husband, but as the book goes on you start to see his real heart: he is genuinely madly in love with his wife and just wants a family with her.  He makes some decisions that made me cringe, but even then, was he just doing what was right by his family?

For me, though, the most interesting character was Dr Ravell.  The author somehow takes this creeper of a doctor and turns him into a character that you just want to hug.  His skill at his job combined with his pure old loneliness made for a pretty bad combination for him as far as life decisions go.  Women were falling over themselves for him and he was lonely…. the choices he made may not have been the “right” ones, but the author made his loneliness so palpable that his sleeping with these random women seem alright and even good.  Watching him change and fight these deep battles within himself was probably my favorite part of this book.

Historical fiction is a totally tricky genre I think.  It can get so cheesy so fast.  From the author’s notes at the beginning and the end of the book, she put some serious research into these characters, even basing Erika on someone in her family tree.  As far as I can tell, this is her first novel and I have to say, I was totally impressed.  I’ll keep an eye on her and not hesitate for a minute to read her next novel.

Conclusion: I would recommend this without reservation to anyone except people that are currently struggling with infertility or have recently experienced a miscarriage.  I don’t want to spoil anything, but there are some pretty graphic scenes here and they made the pregnant lady in me cringe and cry a little bit.  Other than that, seriously good stuff.  Check it out.

This week, I got the opportunity to interview Amy Bourret, author of Mothers and Other Liars.  I ended up on a blog tour of this book earlier in the month and I really enjoyed it.  I contacted Amy with a few questions and she was more than generous with her answers.  Enjoy!

Lovely Little Shelf: I thought that a clever little part of the book was how Lark got her name, from a candy bar wrapper.  Did you come up with the name first or the concept of Lark’s name coming from a “found object”?

Amy Bouret: She gave me her name first, and then told me where it came from.

LLS: What are your favorite pizza toppings?

AB: Chicken, artichoke and goat cheese

LLS: I want a piece of Ruby’s furniture!  Did you base this job on someone you know/somewhere you shop or did you just kind of make it up?

AB: A little of both. As a kid, I loved “helping” my grandfather with his refinishing projects, and have done a few myself (the pie safe is autobiographical!). I’ve also been concerned about the environment forever – I joined the Sugar Bears Ecology Club when I was 6 – so I loved the idea of “repurposing” old furniture. I’d like a piece of Ruby’s work, too!

LLS: I thought that the decisions that Ruby had to make were truly gut-wrenching.  Did you know going into it what she would decide or were you as surprised as the readers?

AB: I didn’t even know the choices she would face. That’s the fun for me in writing is letting the story carry you where it wants to go. And yes, I was very surprised at where it went.

LLS: I saw an immediate connection between Mothers and Other Liars and Jodi Picoult’s books, not only in storyline but in style.  Was this intentional? Do you read her a lot?

AB: I have read some of Jodi’s work and am flattered to be compared to her, but no, I did not intentionally forge a connection. I hope my work is not deriviate of anyone. I just try to write honestly and well.

LLS: I read on your website that while you don’t have children yourself, you have practiced child advocacy law.  How do you think those two facts shaped your novel?

AB: I don’t know how not having a child shaped the novel, because I can’t compare the experience with writing it while having a child. I WAS a child and I HAVE a mother, so I think there is some of me in each of Ruby and Lark – as well as some of my mother, my sister, my nieces and a whole lot of other people who i have crossed paths with along the way.

The child advocacy part is easier to answer. That work is so rewarding but is also heartbreaking, and I think my experiences definitely shaped the decision that Ruby made at that rest stop.

LLS: What is your favorite 80’s band?

AB: I love Bon Jovi, THE 80’s Hair Band. I also love the Eagles.

LLS: What are you reading right now? What were your favorite books as a kid?

AB: Right now I’m reading lots of poetry and nonfiction. I’m working on my next novel, and I try to protect my characters’ voices while they feel fragile by not letting other voices into my head.

Mothers & Other Liars hits the shelves August 3rd.  For more info on the book and more info on Amy, go check out her website.  It is pretty and full of good stuff.

The Book: Eye Contact, by Cammie McGovern

The Story: In a small patch of woods outside of an elementary school, a young girl is murdered.  The only witness to the murder is Adam, a nine-year-old autistic boy.  Even on a good day, he is almost completely non-verbal, but after this, he totally shuts down.

His mom, Cara, has always been drawn to people who are broken or need fixed.  She has worked endlessly with Adam and can read his non-verbal clues like a book.  She has his mannerisms and routine down to a science.  Using this knowledge, she starts investigating why Adam (a rule follower to the max) would have been in the woods, and what could have caused the responses that he had.  This investigation takes her back to her past to her relationship with Adam’s father and her best friend at the time.  This untying of the past actually becomes pretty important as the book goes on.

There’s a lot of other stuff going on here: police officers with other motives, a middle-school boy who casts himself as a junior detective, over-bearing parents, and a lot of issues about dealing with special needs within the education system.

This book starts off strong, builds up the pressure, then offers twists everywhere until you can’t see which way is up.  I’m not going to ruin this for you, but the ending is wiiiild.

What I Thought: A lot of times, after I read a book, I’ll go to goodreads.com and read a few reviews just to see what other people think.  One of the reviewers said that this book seemed like a cross between I Promise Not to Tell and The Curious Incident of the Dog at Midnight. I think that is an incredibly fair assessment.  If you end up reading this and liking it, pick up these other two.  Peas in a pod.

I thought that the first part of this book was totally intriguing.  The mystery was part of that, of course, but really the family at the center was the biggest intrigue.  Would Adam come out of his box to tell who did this, would Cara be able to figure it out or get Adam to talk?  How would the police and the school administration treat this gentle kid involved in a really horrid killing?  All these questions are what kept me reading late into the night one night.

I have to admit to a little bit of disappointment in where this ended up going.  I felt like there were way to many characters introduced to be supported by a little 250 page book.  The ex-boyfriend, his crazy mom, the ex-best friend, her brother,  the middle school boy, his mom, his friends, the special ed teacher, the middle school bullies…. I could go on and on and on.  These characters all had interesting stories, but it was all just a little too much.  The author didn’t give me time to truly get involved in these characters so they just seemed kind of trivial.

To be fair, the twists at the end were pretty much crazy and at several different times I thought I had it figured out, only to be totally blown away with just how wrong I’d been.  I like a mystery that does that.  So, there ya go.

Conclusion: If you like a quick little mystery between heavier books, try this one out.  Probably a book that I’ll forget about in the next couple of months, but it was a good distraction for a couple of days. Like I said earlier, I think if you liked Curious Incident of the Dog at Midnight, that you will probably get into this one too.  It’s worth a shot.

I have a small notebook where I had little blog ideas written down.  More importantly, I had all of my posts planned out through mid-August.

I lost my  notebook.  It turned into a pretty big issue in our house.  We even cleaned out the car “just in case.”

I’m one of those people who feels lost without a list.  So I’m lost now.  You  may have noticed that I didn’t even post yesterday.  My  mind was blown.

So! Give me a couple of hours to re-group and we’ll get right back to our regularly scheduled program.

And if you see a little blue notebook with a butterfly on the front (Hey! Don’t make fun of me! It was in my stocking from my mama!) please return it to its rightful owner. Thanks.

I’ll get this in the mail for you asap, because I know you’re going to be wanting to sport it everywhere you go.

Thanks to everyone who entered.  I wish I had one to send everyone…. come to think of it, I may just have another one laying around here somewhere….

I guess you better just keep an eye on the blog to find out

Winnie-The-Pooh, by A.A. Milne

In my book, you kinda can’t go wrong with Winnie-The-Pooh, Piglet, Rabbit and ol’ Christopher Robin.  I remember reading this when I was younger and thinking, even then, that it was maybe the cutest thing ever written.  When Winnie-The-Pooh dressed up as a rain cloud, I’m pretty sure a collective “aww!” spread throughout the whole world.  Cutest frigging thing ever.

So I liked Winnie-The-Pooh, I do admit that.  However, at some point, my aunt and uncle must have seen me reading this book and decided that it was my obsession.  Every year from the time I was pretty young until I was way, way too old I got little Winnie-The-Pooh things.  If I remember correctly, they were even getting me Winnie-The-Pooh watches and figurines until well into high school… maybe after.  I just didn’t have the heart to tell them that while I enjoyed a good Heffalump story, it was by no means my favorite thing of all time.

This is the book that comes on the iPad, so recently I’ve revisited a little bit and I have to say, it is just as good as an adult.  This is one of the books that I really cannot wait to read out loud to my kiddies.

To participate in Flashback Friday, head over here to get the info on what’s going on.  After posting your flashback, come back here and comment with a link to your blog so everyone can enjoy!

The Book: The Life and Times of The Thunderbolt Kid: Travels Through my Childhood, by Bill Bryson

The Story: Although he is known for his travel memoirs, Bill Bryson decided to take us on a trip through his childhood in this one.

Bill Bryson grew up in the 1950’s and 60’s in the midwest.  He is nostalgic and sweet about little things: comic books, color tv, escalators, the onset of prepackaged food, lincoln logs, stuff like that, and about big things: the space race, the evolution of the suburbs, education, baseball*.

He combines his personal memories with data and facts about what was going on through this period to give a good solid look at 20 years of America’s past.

What I Thought: I’ve had a thing for Bill Bryson for a long time.  I was so excited when my mom passed this on to me after reading it that I’m pretty sure I actually squealed.  So frigging good.

I cannot even tell you how many times I was laying on the couch reading and laughing loud enough that Shaun would make me read the part to him.  I really couldn’t help it. I had to set it down a few times because I was laughing so hard.  Usually this happened when people got hurt or embarrassed.  You’ll be happy to know that both of these things happen a lot.

I think the thing that sets this apart and makes it really good is not the humor even though it was really funny. It’s the charm.  I’m young and still get a little nostalgic when I look back on my childhood.  Reading a good writer flesh this out is charming and sweet.  The innocence of his childhood and his love for that time in his life and his family and friends just comes through the pages and for me it was really touching.

There are quite a few racist and sexist bits mixed in, but generally he admitted right off that he was about to be a little bit racist or sexist.  Not sure if that makes it better, but it didn’t detract from the book for me. I just felt like that was how he was raised and if the rest of the book can be filtered through a lens of “childhood,” these bits probably should be too.

Conclusion: I’m not sure how many baby boomers I have reading my blog, but if you’re one of them: get this book right now.  So good.  Even if you aren’t a baby  boomer, there is really good stuff here. You’ll love it. Go get it. This probably isn’t his best work, but I think it’s worth the read, without a doubt.

*This is the worst constructed sentence I’ve ever written. Maybe it is the worst constructed sentence I’ve ever seen.  After I wrote it, I reread and realized how truly awful it was, but just wanted you to be able to enjoy it like I did.  You’re welcome.