Joining the 2010 EW Summer Books Challenge

For some reason I never seem to be able to complete challenges. I don't know if it is because I get too busy or if I need a spreadsheet or what, I just stink at them! But Julie over at Booking Mama has one that I think I can handle, The 2010 EW Summer Books Challenge. Click on the title for all the details....I am definitely reading The Passage by Justin Cronin and This Body of Death by Elizabeth George, so I should at least be able to achieve Polliwog level. Thanks for thinking up a great (and manageable) challenge, Julie!!

Historical Fiction finds at BEA!

I got a lot of great books at BEA this year! There weren't as many historical fiction titles this year as there were last year, but I still managed to snag quite a few. Thought you might like to see a sampling of the ones I am most looking forward to!

By Fire, By Water

by Mitchell James Kaplan (already out)

The Dead Travel Fast
by Deanna Raybourn (already out)

The King's Mistress
by Emma Campion (July)

Juliet
by Anne Fortier (August)

Revolution
by Jennifer Donnelly (October)

A Secret Kept
by Tatiana de Rosnay (September)

The Wolves of Andover
by Kathleen Kent (November)

Most of the reviews for these will post in or near the month that they are due out and I will do giveaways for most of them. Great titles on this list, can't wait to get started!

Long Overdue BEA Wrap-up!

Once again, I am way behind! Had a family emergency that has occupied all of my time since returning from BEA. Things are going better now, for which I am profoundly grateful! Anyway, I was in New York from May 24 thru the 29th for Book Expo America. Last year was so much fun, I didn't think it could be more fun or exciting this year, but it was! There were so many bloggers there, old friends and new, and it was exciting to see everyone. Plus, on Friday I attended the first ever Book Blogger Convention! Michelle, Trish, Natasha, Nicole, Amy, Rebecca and everyone involved in the organization of it did a fantastic job. It was interesting, educational and the keynote speaker, author Maureen Johnson, was an inspired choice. She was hilarious and so much fun to listen to! I don't buy very many books but she completely won me over, I'll be going out to buy all of hers!

Show Floor

But I'm getting ahead of myself. The first exhibit day was Wednesday, it was crazy! So many people everywhere...not to mention the books! I had more than I could carry within the first hour. Time to start being more selective! It is very hard to limit yourself when fantastic books are being thrust at you from every direction. I admit, BEA is heaven for someone like me. Nothing but books, authors, book publicists, book publishers, book lovers, book bloggers....very fun and exciting. So, Wednesday was great. But it was Thursday that was fantastic!

Me and Clinton Kelly

You'll think I'm very silly, but I was so excited to meet Clinton Kelly from TLC's show What Not to Wear. I love the show, have been watching it for ages and learning from it! (I put a LOT of thought into what I would wear on Thursday!) He was signing at 10am and I got in line early. He was so nice! Even complimented me on my outfit (whew!)...you know I couldn't meet him and have him thinking "Wow, YOU need to be on my show..."!! What is a fashion guru doing at BEA? He has a book coming out, not until October, called Oh No She Didn't. We didn't actually get the book, it was a little preview pamphlet which he signed for me.

As you walk down the aisles at BEA one of the things that you notice immediately is the lines that form around the booths. There is a separate autographing area where authors sign at scheduled times, but many publisher booths have authors signing, too. So, as you walk by a line you get curious and lean in to ask who everyone is waiting to see. This happens over and over again during the course of BEA (at least for me, I'm always curious to know who is causing all the excitement at the moment). Now, I make up a schedule before I go of who I want to see, so I usually don't stop. But early afternoon on Thursday I walked by a line that had just started to form...only about 15 people in it. When I asked who it is for I was told Kathryn Stockett would be signing copies of her bestseller, The Help ! This was completely unannounced, probably for crowd control reasons, but I was thrilled. The Help has been out well over a year and is still at the top of bestseller lists (#11 right now on Amazon). And I had yet to get a copy, let alone a signed one. And then I got to meet the author, too! I tried to get a picture but the one I manged to take was horribly blurry...to many people jostling around to get a second shot.

Me and Tim Gunn

At 1 pm Thursday, Tim Gunn (he has had a long career in the fashion world but is best known for Project Runway) was scheduled to sign his new book Gunn's Golden Rules, which will be out in September. I got in line at noon because I knew that the line would get incredibly long. The signing started exactly on time but the line moved extremely slowly. Tim is so friendly and nice, he chatted with each person, called them by name, asked about them, taking 2-3 minutes for each of us. Which translated to a long wait in line that was completely worth it! What a gracious man. I was probably about 40th in line and it was a bit after two when I finally got to meet him (the goofy picture of me is above). He was only scheduled to sign for ONE HOUR, from 1-2. After I saw him there were still hundreds of people in line behind me. When I left the room at 4:15 pm he was still there, looking like he had just stepped out there, smiling and generous with each and every person. He stood there for as long as it took to see everyone who wanted to meet him. I was very impressed.

A night out with Caitlin and the crew from Unbridled Books was a perfect way to end a perfect day! We all had a great time at Hudson Bar & Books, an appropriate spot for us!

After Friday's Book Blogger Convention we decided dinner was in order. Allie (Hist-Fic Chick) and Nicole (Linus' Blanket), our resident New Yorkers, led the way to Dos Caminos where we had twenty something bloggers all together for some great mexican food and, of course, margaritas. I wish I had time to chat with everyone but the conversation was non-stop. It was a great evening. The bill was well over $1,000! So much fun, a perfect end to a perfect trip!

Jen (Devourer of Books), Allie (Hist-Fic Chick) and Me

And there you have it, a fantastic BEA! Can't wait for next year! (Thanks for sharing the above photo, Allie!)

Review and Giveaway: Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman

Meet twelve year old CeeCee. She's an only child and, even worse, her mother Camille is well on her way to being unhinged. She is the talk of their small Ohio town. Since CeeCee's father has chosen to escape the entire situation by spending all of his time traveling for work, she is left to try to rein in her mother's increasingly bizarre behavior all on her own.

You see, Camille's finest hour was when she was the Vidalia Onion Queen in 1951, complete with tiara, sash and fancy gown. Now she spends her days reliving that long ago day, becoming the bane of CeeCee's existence in the process. The constant embarrassment coupled with the responsibility put upon her causes CeeCee to have to grow up far before her time. And she does, she is an amazing young girl, funny and bright.

Beth Hoffman

When tragedy strikes, CeeCee's fragile world collapses like a house of cards. But rescue is at hand in the form of her great aunt Tootie. CeeCee has never even met her but Tootie swoops in and changes her life. Before she knows it, she has been whisked away to live in Savannah, Georgia, where the trees are green, the days are warm and the women are STRONG!

Though she suddenly finds herself with good friends and more mothers figures than any girl could wish for, she is still dealing with the difficult aftermath of her past. Time and loving advice from the disparate group of women who become her family are all CeeCee needs to blossom into the beautiful young woman she is sure to be.

It is hard for me to put into words how much I enjoyed this novel. It captures perfectly the strength and wisdom that lies at the core of southern women. I was strongly reminded of my Grandmother, born and raised in Tennessee, she was what we used to call 'salt of the earth'. Without women like her and the women you will find in this book, surely the world would cease to spin. It is a lovely, lovely book, charming, sweet, honest. Can't recommend it highly enough, it's a gem.

Saving CeeCee Honeycutt is published by Viking, ISBN 978-0-670-02139-0. For more information about Beth Hoffman and her writing, please visit her website.

Okay, now you want to read it, right? Of course you do! And I have three copies to give away!! (Thank you Allie & Shannon!) So, to enter just leave me a comment here that includes your email address. Instructions for extra entries are below. Giveaway is open those with a US or Canada mailing address and you can enter thru midnight eastern time on June 12.

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Good luck everyone, thank you for visiting and entering!

BEA Week Giveaway: My Name is Mary Sutter by Robin Oliveira

An enthralling historical novel about a young woman's struggle to become a doctor during the Civil War

In this stunning first novel, Mary Sutter is a brilliant, head­strong midwife from Albany, New York, who dreams of becoming a surgeon. Determined to overcome the prejudices against women in medicine-and eager to run away from her recent heartbreak- Mary leaves home and travels to Washington, D.C. to help tend the legions of Civil War wounded. Under the guidance of William Stipp and James Blevens-two surgeons who fall unwittingly in love with Mary's courage, will, and stubbornness in the face of suffering-and resisting her mother's pleas to return home to help with the birth of her twin sister's baby, Mary pursues her medical career in the desperately overwhelmed hospitals of the capital.

Like Charles Frazier's Cold Mountain and Robert Hicks's The Widow of the South, My Name Is Mary Sutter powerfully evokes the atmosphere of the period. Rich with historical detail (including marvelous depictions of Lincoln, Dorothea Dix, General McClellan, and John Hay among others), and full of the tragedies and challenges of wartime, My Name Is Mary Sutter is an exceptional novel. And in Mary herself, Robin Oliveira has created a truly unforgettable heroine whose unwavering determination and vulnerability will resonate with readers everywhere.

~Synopsis courtesy of the publisher

My Name Is Mary Sutter is published by Viking. ISBN 978-0-670-02167-3 Visit the author's website here.

I admit I'm running behind in my review of this one, but I have one copy to give away courtesy of the publisher. Winner will be drawn at random and must have a US or Canada mailing address. For one entry, just leave me a comment here. If you would like extra entries there are instructions below. Giveaway open through midnight eastern time on June 4.

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Good luck everyone, thank you for visiting and entering!

Review and Giveaway: Band of Angels by Julia Gregson

Catherine Carreg grew up in Wales, racing horses down the beach with her neighbor, Deio Jones. Though her father, a gentleman farmer, considered their family far above the Jones family in social status, her mother's frail health created the opportunity for Catherine to spend quite a lot of time with them. The Jones family was a haven for Catherine and she developed a deep love for Deio.

As they grew older, the talk began. A young woman should not be spending time alone with a young man, especially one below her in society. So, Catherine's father forbid her to see or spend time with Deio. Her life became a boring round of domestic duties that she absolutely hated. The only saving grace was time spent with her slightly eccentric mother.

And then tragedy struck. Catherine's mother, pregnant in her forties, went into early labor. Curtly ordered by her father to take care of the situation, Catherine found herself with absolutely no idea of what to do. When the inevitable happened and her mother died, Catherine felt responsible, as if she should have been able to save her.

Julia Gregson

She bravely forms a plan. With Deio's help Catherine disguises herself as a boy on a cattle drive in order to get to London. Once there, she secures a position with Florence Nightingale to learn how to nurse. This means giving up Deio, her family and all that is safe and familiar to her. But she is driven to find a way to a life that contains more meaning than the one she left behind.

Julia Gregson brings to life the difficult struggle that was the infancy of the nursing profession. Before Florence Nightingale, most nurses were considered little better than prostitutes and treated accordingly. Many were alcoholics and most came from the lowest levels of society. This was an interesting, absorbing novel with vivid characters and a sense of realism that made it hard to put down.

Band of Angels is published by Touchstone, ISBN 978-1-4391-0113-1. Visit Julia's website here.

Thanks to the very generous publisher (thank you, Kelly!), I have four copies to give away! Winners will be drawn at random and must have a US or Canada mailing address. For one entry, just leave me a comment here. If you would like extra entries there are instructions below. Giveaway open through midnight eastern time on June 1.

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Good luck everyone, thank you for visiting and entering!

Review & Giveaway: Claude & Camille, A Novel of Monet by Stephanie Cowell

"Sometimes he dreamt he held her; that he would turn in bed and she would be there. But she was gone, and he was old...."

This is one of the most powerful lines in this novel, and one of my favorites, right at the beginning, as an elderly Claude Monet remembers his first wife, his love, his muse, the beautiful but fragile Camille.

They met when he was a young painter, impoverished, full of hope and dreams and possessing fantastic friends, who are also fellow artists. But Claude had no money and little support from the father who had expected his son to take over the family business.

Camille came from a sheltered and well off family who were appalled when she took up with an artist, lived with him and had a child before they were even married. Her family cut her off and Claude was never able to provide for her in the way that she was accustomed to, try as he might. And he did try, but his art was a harsh taskmaster and they gave up much so that he could devote his time and energy to painting.

Claude Monet, age 25 (oh boy, he DOES look like Johnny Depp!)

Claude's close circle of artist friends encompassed all those who would become known as the Impressionists: Aususte Renoir, Frederic Bazille, Camille Pissarro, Edouard Manet. They were all very close and this novel does a brilliant job of bringing them all to life, so you feel the comradeship, hunger, suffering and joy of their early days in Paris.

Camille Monet

Eventually, the strain of their haphazard existence began to tell on Camille, revealing tendencies toward depression and melancholy that had first appeared in her childhood. Though she and Claude truly loved each other, they struggle in their lives together. Again and again, they are saved by their caring friends.

The Monet Family, 1874, painted by Edouard Manet

This is a brilliant historical novel, clearly written by an author that has a deep appreciation and understanding of art in general and impressionism in particular. I know nothing at all about art but came away from this book with such admiration for those that can look at a scene and see the play of light and color...and be able to translate that to canvas. An utterly breathtaking book, I loved it and highly recommend it!

Claude & Camille: A Novel of Monet is published by Crown, ISBN 978-0-307-46321-0

I have one copy available to give away. Winner will be drawn at random and must have a US or Canada mailing address. For one entry, just leave me a comment here. If you would like extra entries there are instructions below. Giveaway open through midnight eastern time on May 19th.

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Good luck everyone, thank you for visiting and entering!

Guest Post: The Surprises of the Real Claude Monet by Stephanie Cowell, author of Claude & Camille

Today The Tome Traveller's Weblog is pleased to welcome Stephanie Cowell! Stephanie is the author of the new historical fiction novel Claude & Camille, which tells the story of Claude Monet and his beloved wife, Camille. Since Stephanie has a background in art, I wondered if she had uncovered anything in her research for this novel that really surprised her about the life of Monet, or changed her previous feelings about him and his art.

Stephanie Cowell

Well, yes, I was utterly surprised through a great deal of my research.

I think most people have generalized conceptions of the great artists of history. Shakespeare looked like a marble bust. The Bronte sisters ran around the moors. Van Gogh loved sunflowers and cut off his ear. Monet was always old, pot-bellied, bearded and painted water lilies….and so on. We don’t have time to really know things in depth; life is just too vast. We pass a lovely engagement calendar with a Japanese bridge and we think “Monet!” We suppose he might have married someone. But until we know more he is a lovely coffee mug or a mouse pad.

I first encountered the person I began to think of rather intimately as Claude in an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum called The Origins of Impressionism. This exhibition had gathered together paintings of the 1860s by the several young men who would be known years later as impressionists. Most were in their twenties. I was struck how very young Claude was and, when I decided to write about him, I began to collect what books I could on his life. At the same time I found a portrait of him by a friend when he was twenty-five and was very startled. This was no pot-bellied old fellow; this was a hot-headed, impatient, drop-dead gorgeous young guy. He might have been a gypsy. He reminded me of Johnny Depp when young.

And so I became fascinated with the young man who would become the old man. But what was he like? Each writer saw him differently. He was very poor then and some people saw him as cold and opportunistic, and others as charming and the best friend in the world. Fortunately, a diary recently discovered written by one of his older friends portrayed him as very charming. I could not make a hero from a man I could not love. (And no, he was not easy to be married to, as tender and caring as he could be; the painting always was first. It was in his blood like something wild in him.)

What I realized in studying his very difficult, impoverished life on his 20s and 30s was what a long road it was to the water lily paintings. He did not begin those really until his 60s and he was chasing light with his paintbrush for a long time before that. To many people these garden paintings of bridges and flowers and willows are blissfully serene and we suppose the man who created them was serene as well. That is not true. He was serene only when he felt his painting went well. It was his endless restless search for light and color which created the serenity he left us in his garden and his works. “The work sometimes knows more than the artist,” my mentor Madeleine L’Engle used to tell us.

In his very last months of life, old and sick and sitting in his garden chair, having finished his great water lily panels which now hang in the Paris Orangerie, I think he knew serenity. I think then he knew he had accomplished the reason of his life, that he had fulfilled his purpose. It was a journey of almost seventy years. I am quite awed to consider how faithfully he pursued his vision of painting air and light no matter what his difficulties and how much of it he left to us.

Thank you so much for a fascinating guest post, Stephanie! I am so glad you decided to explore the early life of Monet, your utterly absorbing novel was the result!

For more information, be sure to visit Stephanie's website. And come back tomorrow to read my review of Claude & Camille!