: Online Book Club

9
March
2009

BOOK OF THE MONTH:
Land of a Hundred Wonders
by Lesley Kagen

In this work of fiction, set in the early 1970s in the south, Gibby’s voice carries the reader through a fast tale of mystery, friendship, race relations, and overall, love. Gibby is a 20-year-old who is NQR (not-quite-right) after a traumatic brain injury sustained in a car accident that killed both of her parents. Gibby is told by a clairvoyant that her deceased mother cannot rest in peace as a result of worry about Gibby’s NQR state. To grant her mother eternal rest, Gibby strives to become QR (quite-right). However, her efforts are often in vain as the brain injury trumps her desire to be socially appropriate. This leads to humorous outbursts and, on the flip side, to grim situations where others take advantage of Gibby’s mental state.

Though her day job is refilling salt shakers at her grandfather’s cafe, Gibby’s desire is to become a real reporter. She is forever searching for fodder for her weekly gazette that she distributes around town. When she stumbles upon a homicide, Gibby’s investigative reporter mode turns on. Though her investigative techniques are clumsy on account of her short-term memory lapses, Gibby’s insights are occasionally brilliant. As she attempts to solve the mystery, her loved ones enter a life of turmoil and anguish in an unforeseen chain of events.

Because of her brain injury, Gibby’s narration proves to be both hilarious and heart wrenching. The author does a beautiful job of weaving Gibby’s rambling, in-congruent thoughts into a suspenseful mystery. And in the end, the heroine and the who-done-it are surprises. Underpinned by race relations and tension, the book exudes the twang of the south.

This is a wonderfully written book which, while light and easy to read, addresses complex problems in our society. The book smacked of familiarity to me as I was reading it. Upon conclusion, I realized the book seemed to be a combination of themes I enjoyed in two other novels, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time (Haddon) and The Secret Life of Bees (Monk Kidd). However, just as it is in those two novels, the narrator’s voice is genuine and unique. Anyone with even an ounce of compassion will enjoy Gibby’s journey through the Land of a Hundred Wonders.

ENTER TO WIN! Leave a comment to this post (and be sure to include a valid e-mail address!) and you’ll automatically be entered to win this month’s giveaway including two fabulous Mama Lit books! Congrats to Barbara G. of Damascus, OR for winning the February Book Giveaway!

Reviewed by Megan Loeb | Posted in Online Book Club | 5 Comments »

27
October
2008

Heaping Spoonful,
by Shauna Glenn

Reviewed by Erin Kirkland

We are stronger than we think, and author Shauna Glenn proves it. Her novel “Heaping Spoonful” takes readers through love, loss, and back again with insightful storytelling and real characters that remind us of ourselves. “Heaping Spoonful” shows us life with a woman fighting to discover who she is after the death of her husband with in-your-face realism and a dash of naughty.

At center stage is Claire, a thirty-something mother whose husband’s recent death to cancer has left her feeling angry and alone, something she tries desperately to hide from her young son and daughter. The book opens with an example of how angry Claire is over her husband Bryan’s death; while out running one morning she is nearly run over by an “ass—-” in a sports car. After hurling a rock at the man’s rear window and angrily engaging in a shouting match, the brute hurls back to Claire that he feels sorry for her husband for having to live with her. Palpably hurt, the scene is a great introduction to Claire and hooked me easily into her life.

Claire has a lot going on; her business, a little bakery that has enjoyed modest success since opening now needs to be more than a hobby. It is Claire’s lifeblood and must pay the bills, but ancillary characters keep getting in her business and remind her life is not simply about managing employees and selling pastry. One such employee is her sister, Lucy, a perfect sub-heroine in Glenn’s layered plot scheme. Hilarious and a little wild, Lucy has a bit of an obsession for men and sex, as evidenced by a scene early on when Claire and her kids visit for dinner and walk in to find Lucy and her flavor of the week a bit ‘compromised’ in the kitchen.

Claire’s parents, too, are important figures. Suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, her mother has moments of lucidity that bring surprising clarity. In a tender moment between Claire and her mother, a connection to old family recipes gives Claire a boost of self-esteem and a lasting legacy. Claire finally creates a goal for herself and her business, making her feel whole for the first time in a long while.

Yes, there are men; Glenn shocks us a few times with her situational sex scenes reminiscent of a college dorm. But she approaches Claire’s dating experiences with such fabulous humor and understanding that even the moments of unbridled passion will seem a perfect fit for the overall story. After all, how many of us can say we never had a transitional relationship after the loss of a boyfriend or husband? The best part of life, however, is how we find what, or who, is really the most important. And how people who are under our noses can turn out to be the most glorious of friends or loves we ever imagined.

Devour this read accompanied by a box of chocolate and a glass of wine. It’ll do you good.

ENTER TO WIN! After leaving a comment on this post, don’t forget to also leave a comment on our October Book of the Month post for The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs and enter to win a trio of amazing Mama Lit books: Sleep is for the Weak, Lean Mommy, and The White Trash Mom Handbook. Click here to go to the post and leave a comment! Must comment before midnight October 31, 2008 to enter.

Reviewed by erinkirkland | Posted in Friendships, Love/Romance, Online Book Club, humor | 2 Comments »

2
October
2008

OCT BOOK OF THE MONTH:The Friday Night Knitting Club,
by Kate Jacobs

Ladies, I am so excited to hear what you all think of this month’s book, The Friday Night Knitting Club. I just finished this fabulous new chick-lit book. A wonderful and warm book with a few twists along the way. I am so curious to hear what you think of the ending of the story, but we’ll get to that later.

The Friday Night Knitting Club follows the life adventures, sorrows and joys of single mother, Georgia Walker. This story is a mixture of How To Make An American Quilt with bits of Steel Magnolias thrown in. It is emotional. It is comforting. Slightly predictable while still keeping you wanting for more. You will find bits of yourself in each of the characters. And, you may find that this story lingers with you well after you have finished the last page.

This is Kate Jacobs debut novel and is masterfully written. The writing is lovely. It flows with the most elegant rhythm, almost as if it were meant to be read aloud. It has been awhile since I have read a book and felt that I was part of the internal experience of the characters. There were a few nights when I should have just put the book down and rested up for the next day. Alas, I found myself snuggled up and reading just one more chapter. Just a bit to curious and wrapped up in the book to nod off to bed. That is my own personal litmus test. If after a day of running after kids, changing diapers, and vacuuming dog hair off the couch, I choose to read instead of sleeping, well, it’s just has to be a good read!

The Friday Night Knitting Club weaves the life story of single mother and business owner, Georgia Walker. Georgia finds that after years of raising her daughter Dakota and managing her small knitting store in Manhattan that she has neglected her own inner life. Set in her routine and emotionally shutoff from the world, Georgia’s life is turned upside down when Dakota’s absentee father moves back to New York and further flies into turmoil as an old friend stumbles back into her life. Georgia begins to unravel. The women who come to Georgia’s knitting shop on Friday evenings to share their love of craft support Georgia through her emotional roller coaster and in turn, find themselves each bound closer to one another.

This is this seasons must read book! The Friday Night Knitting Club is currently number 16 on the NY Times Bestseller list for paperback fiction. And, if you find yourself casting this book while reading it, you are not alone. Julia Roberts is set to produce and also star in a 2009 movie adaption of the book.

And so, we should also discuss the ending. I’m not sure how much you want to know, but I will tell you that it was not how my heart wanted to see the story end. It felt as though the ending might have been tacked on at the last moment as a way to wrap up all up neatly. The last bit felt out of place with the rythm of the rest of the story. When you read the story, you will know what I mean.

So, ladies, grab your softest blanket and a warm cup of tea, and cozy up to The Friday Night Knitting Club. You’ll be glad you did.

ENTER TO WIN THE OCTOBER BOOK GIVEAWAY BASKET! Leave a comment here anytime between now and October 31st and enter to win this month’s book giveaway basket, featuring the Mama Lit November Book of the Month: Sleep is for the Weak, edited by Rita Arens; The White Trash Mom by Michelle Loman; and Lean Mommy by Stroller Strides founder Lisa Druxman! Every time you leave a comment, you increase your chances of winning!

Reviewed by Heather Laird | Posted in Mothering, Online Book Club | 7 Comments »

1
August
2008

Aug/Sept Book Club of the Month: The Maternal is Political, by Shari MacDonald Strong

UPDATE: This book is now the August AND September Online Book Club of the Month pick! Apparently, too many vacations, summer camps, etc. keeping mamas away from this heavier read during the last month of summer. Understood :). So the kidlets are back in school, and it’s time to get reading! Especially with the election coming up! Read this book, leave a comment, and enter to win our Aug/Sept Book Club GIVEAWAY: Custom monogram notecards and a custom frame by Munchkin Designs! (See photos at the bottom of the post)

Before you pound that Election 2008 sign into your front lawn, take a peek at the real change agents of American society; the mamas. They stand up to bosses, override playgroup bullies, and advocate for policies that shape the future for women across the globe. Mothers are willful, brave, protective, active, hopeful; they led the way to social change even before Betty Friedan taught husbands how to hold a baby bottle.

Author Shari MacDonald Strong’s vibrant collection of work from such notable women as Benazir Bhutto, Barbara Kingsolver, Nancy Pelosi and Anna Quindlen draws readers into the not-so-mysterious realm of mothers and politics. From former peace-marching, bra-burning feminists of the sixties to mothers of the 21^st century discovering a whole new concept of war and peace, The Maternal is Political reopens our eyes to a definition of motherhood shaping the lives of our children, and every child, everywhere.

MacDonald Strong divides the book into three distinct categories; “Believe”, “Teach”, and “Act”, each with unique essays so moving that I was finally forced to wield a pen, furiously circling and underlining phrases for future use. Leading off with Judith Stadtman Tucker’s piece titled “Motherhood Made Me Do It”, the reader is treated to a march through the past and into the future, as we begin to glean with some clarity how mothers manage to rock the future of politics while raising a family. Stadtman Tucker writes “All I can say is that the complexities of my own lived experience of motherhood led me to this work, the work of social change. And now it’s the only kind of work that makes sense to me.” Similar reflections are prevalent throughout the book, and according to practically every author featured inside, the world better wake the hell up.

The Maternal is Political rang an alarm in my brain. Am I, the mother of two sons, a wife and a writer, doing enough, or anything, to raise awareness of the role women continue to play? Do my sons even know what it means to embrace social consciousness and run with it, unafraid to tell people what they think? Am I a political chicken?

A riveting, sometimes brutally honest account by women writers across a spectrum of political, cultural, and civil landscapes, The Maternal is Political aims for visceral understanding of women and social change through stories that just might make one want to stand up and cheer for Girl Power, or slink into a dark corner, withered by guilt of not doing enough for all the women of the world.

There will be those who protest the book’s liberal tone, certainly. But even conservative readers cannot deny the emotions of each individual writer as she outlines a personal experience that led her to become an activist for societal transformation.

Mothers are the ones who get it done. We are the Master Multi-Taskers; CEO’s one minute, carpool drivers, dinner party planners and boo-boo kissers the next. Many of us failed to realize our social potential until we pushed out our own little bundles of civic responsibility. We’d do anything for our daughters and sons, and woe to the soul who tries to get in our way.

The Maternal is Political just proves that the mamas are still in the forefront of American political circles, and they are all fired up. Don’t forget to “Vote Mother” first this year!

Reviewed by Erin Kirkland
www.elituqakbrady.blogspot.com

Leave a comment today and enter to win our Aug/Sept Book Club Giveaway! Custom monogram notecards and custom frames from Munchkin Designs:

Reviewed by erinkirkland | Posted in Family, Mommy Wars, Mothering, Online Book Club, Political, Work | 4 Comments »

31
July
2008

July Online Book Club:
Mrs. Perfect, by Jane Porter

REMINDER: Today, July 31st, is the last day to comment and enter to win the July Online Book Club Giveaway: two rockin’ baby/kid tees from the witty and iconic Baby Wit! Only comments entered before midnight tonight EST (that’s 9pm for West Coast folks!) will be entered into the drawing!

Have you checked your family bank account lately? What about your relationship account? These are two questions that the Mama Lit July Book Club read, Mrs. Perfect, poses to the reader through the horrible twist of fate facing its lead character. The follow up to author Jane Porter’s novel Odd Mom Out, Mrs. Perfect follows the life of that novel’s nemesis, Taylor Young: the Super Mom of all Stay-at-Home Moms in a posh Seattle suburb.

We begin by examining Taylor Young’s life, focusing on the external aspects that glimmer like a glossy magazine cover: her days are spent chairing a multi-million dollar benefit auction for her daughter’s school, sipping gin & tonics with friends poolside at their elite country club, wearing expensive designer outfits, living in a lakeside mansion she helped custom design, driving a Lexus SUV. The conversations among Taylor and her girlfriends are plastic, the expectations to live life more extravagantly than others high. But we all know that behind the rich lifestyle lurks actual human beings, and this is where Porter takes the reader deeper, to a place where we can all relate, as moms, as wives, as women.

Taylor Young’s life basically gets hit by a Mack truck carrying surprises about her marriage, her family finances, and brings up thought-to-be buried past relationships (her mother) and brings forth unexpected new relationships (nemesis Marta Zinsser). While some of the scenarios play a little OC-style-dramatic for my taste, the heart of the novel is solid and its message clear: as individuals, we are all much more valuable than what others may perceive our worth to be.

Original theme? Perhaps not, but Porter with her ever present mirror pointed at today’s modern woman thankfully doesn’t leave us there. She takes us beyond the usual “money can’t buy happiness” message and through Taylor Young’s mistakes, family secrets, and her eventual journey to strength and rediscovery, Porter reminds the reader why and how money can’t buy happiness, and also how it is never too late for women to reclaim their own power, their own identities, and in doing so, thus strengthening the family unit as a whole. In today’s uncertain economy, I found this messaging to be extremely timely: Taylor Young may be your next door neighbor, your best friend, your mother, or yourself.

Porter always does a fabulous job of creating characters with flaws that most women can relate to, and strengths that most women aim to achieve. In Odd Mom Out, I completely related with Marta Zinsser’s fierce independent streak and her disdain for stereotypes. In Mrs. Perfect, I found myself relating to Taylor Young’s moments of questioning: what am I doing? Who have I — who have we, as husband and wife — become? Where are we going, and what do we want our children to take away from these life lessons? Porter more than any other female author I have encountered paints such an accurate portrait of today’s modern mother, with such aching love for her kids and such conflict within herself. More than the typical mommy wars books, Porter manages to rise above the stay-at-home versus working mom drama and brings the reader to a higher plateau of questioning, one on which we are all mothers trying to do the best for our families, merely asking ourselves — not society — how we best want to live our own lives. I can’t help but read her novels and end with an “I am woman! Hear me roar!” feeling — in a good way, of course.

Mrs. Perfect is about remembering to nurture the independent, intelligent, highly capable woman inside all of us mothers. It’s a reminder that we are in our relationships together, not separately, and that our relationships with our spouses and partners need tending to as much as our relationships with our children and our friends. Mrs. Perfect is the perfect summer read to remind us all that we are truly capable of moving mountains, determining destinies and changing lives– especially our own.

Reviewed by Marlynn Jayme Schotland | Posted in Family, Mothering, Online Book Club, Parenting | 7 Comments »

1
July
2008

Get Ready for the
July Online ML Book Club

This is it, moms across the country! Our FIRST Mama Lit Online Book Club discussion! Let the games begin! At the beginning of each month, we’ll post the review for that month’s book club read. Then you have the rest of the month to leave comments and chime in on what YOU thought of the book. We’d just LOVE to hear your input!
Here are some discussion points for each month to get you started:

What parts of the review do you agree and disagree with, and why?

Are there pivotal moments in the book you felt were left out of the review but should be noted?

How did you relate to this book as a mother, as a woman?

What are your thoughts on the character development of this book?

Have you read any other books by the same author? How do you compare the others with this one?

Please remember to leave your first and last name and your e-mail address in your comments because on the last day of each month, we’ll choose ONE lucky winner at random to receive that month’s fun Book Club Swag! The prizes vary each month, so keep checking back for updates. Here’s a hint: the more you comment, the greater your chances of winning! Obviously, we’ll only count full comments — don’t try to cheat the systerm, here :). Your name will be placed in the pool for each comment you leave in response to the review of that month’s selected book.

Ready to get started? I’ll be posting the review for the July Online Book Club read, Mrs. Perfect, by Jane Porter, shortly! If you haven’t picked it up yet, be sure to order it online at the Mama Lit Boutique! This month’s prize? Sweet & sassy baby/kid tees from the ever fabulous Baby Wit.

Reviewed by Marlynn Jayme Schotland | Posted in Online Book Club | 3 Comments »

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