Book Talk: *Bite Me: A Love Story*, by Christopher Moore

Book Talk: *Bite Me: A Love Story*, by Christopher Moore

Bite Me: A Love Story Christopher Moore (Twitter) (Facebook) (blog) Read by Susan Bennett William Morrow (2010), Edition: 1, Hardcover (ISBN 0061779725 / 9780061779725) (Audible Audiobook ASIN B003DQVEBM) Fiction, 320 pages Source: purchased audiobook Reason for reading: personal, favorite author Opening lines: “‘The city of San Francisco is being stalked by a huge shaved vampyre cat named Chet, and only I, Abby Normal, emergency backup mistress of the Greater Bay Area night, and my manga-haired […]

(Audio)Book Talk: *You Suck: A Love Story*, by Christopher Moore

(Audio)Book Talk: *You Suck: A Love Story*, by Christopher Moore

You Suck: A Love Story Christopher Moore (Twitter) (Facebook) (blog) Read by Susan Bennett William Morrow (2007), Edition: 1, Hardcover (ISBN 0060590297 / 9780060590291) (Audio ASIN B000MTEC80) Fiction, 336 pages Source: Purchased audiobook Reason for reading: Personal, a favorite author Opening Lines: “‘You bitch, you killed me! You suck!’ “Tommy had just awakened for the first time as a vampire. He was nineteen, thin, and had spent his entire life between states of amazement and […]

Book Talk: *By Nightfall*, by MIchael Cunningham

Book Talk: *By Nightfall*, by MIchael Cunningham

By Nightfall: A Novel Michael Cunningham (Facebook) Picador, 2011; Trade Paperback (ISBN 0312610432 / 9780312610432) Fiction, 256 pages Source: Hardcover, provided by publisher Reason for Reading: Review and BOOK CLUB discussion hosted at Linus’s Blanket today Opening Lines: “The Mistake is coming to stay for a while. “‘Are you mad about Mizzy?’ Rebecca says. “‘Of course not,’ Peter answers.” Book description, via the publisher’s website:Peter and Rebecca Harris, midforties, are prosperous denizens of Manhattan. He’s […]

Book Talk: *This Beautiful Life*, by Helen Schulman

Book Talk: *This Beautiful Life*, by Helen Schulman

This Beautiful Life: A NovelHelen SchulmanHarper (2011), Hardcover (ISBN 0062024388 / 9780062024381)Contemporary fiction, 240 pagesSource: ARC from publisher (pub date 8/2/2011)Reason for reading: personal, review copy Opening lines: “Her mouth filled the screen. Purple lip gloss, clear braces. “‘Still think I’m too young?’ “She leaned over, the fixed lens of the camera catching a tiny spray of blemishes on her cheek, like a comet’s spray. Her hair had been bleached white, with long, blond roots, […]

Book Talk: *Small Town Sinners*, by Melissa Walker

Book Talk: *Small Town Sinners*, by Melissa Walker

Small Town Sinners Melissa Walker (Twitter) (Facebook) Bloomsbury USA Children’s (2011), Hardcover (ISBN 1599905272 / 9781599905273) Fiction (YA), 288 pages Source: ARC from publisher (pub date July 2011) Reason for reading: Faith and Fiction Roundtable discussion Opening lines: “‘Take the wheel,’ says Starla Joy, sticking the grape lollipop she’s been working on into her mouth. She doesn’t even wait to see if I’ve followed her instructions – she just lets go and strips down, pulling […]

Book Talk: *The Girls of Murder City*, by Douglas Perry

Book Talk: *The Girls of Murder City*, by Douglas Perry

The Girls of Murder City: Fame, Lust, and the Beautiful Killers Who Inspired CHICAGO Douglas Perry (book page) Penguin (Non-Classics) (2011), Paperback (ISBN 0143119222 / 9780143119227) History (20th century), 320 pages (including references) Source: Publisher (new paperback edition), for review Reason for Reading: Unputdownables’ Early Reader Group selection Opening Lines: “The most beautiful women in the city were murderers. “The radio said so. The newspapers, when they arrived, would surely say worse. Beulah Annan peered […]

Book Talk: *The Girl Who Was On Fire”, edited by Leah Wilson

Book Talk: *The Girl Who Was On Fire”, edited by Leah Wilson

The Girl Who Was on Fire: Your Favorite Authors on Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games TrilogyLeah Wilson, editor/various contributorsSmart Pop (2011), Paperback (ISBN 1935618040 / 9781935618041)Literary essays, 224 pagesSource: PublisherReason for reading: Personal interest Book description, from the publisher’s website: “Katniss Everdeen’s adventures may have come to an end, but her story continues to blaze in the hearts of millions worldwide.In The Girl Who Was on Fire, thirteen YA authors take you back to Panem with […]

Book Talk: *Happens Every Day*, by Isabel Gillies

Book Talk: *Happens Every Day*, by Isabel Gillies

Happens Every Day: An All-Too-True StoryIsabel Gillies (Twitter)Scribner (2009), Hardcover (ISBN 1439110077 / 9781439110072)Memoir, 272 pagesSource: received secondhand from another bloggerReason for reading: personal Opening lines: “One late August afternoon in our new house in Oberlin, Ohio, my husband, Josiah, took it upon himself to wallpaper the bathroom with pictures of our family.” Book description, from the publisher’s website: Isabel Gillies had a wonderful life—a handsome, intelligent, loving husband who was a professor; two glorious […]

(Audio)Book Talk: *American on Purpose*

(Audio)Book Talk: *American on Purpose*

American on Purpose: The Improbable Adventures of an Unlikely Patriot Craig Ferguson (Twitter) Read by the author It Books (HarperCollins) (2010), Paperback, 288 pages (ISBN 0061998494 / 9780061998492) (Audio edition 0061961450 / 9780061961458) Source: Purchased audiobook Reason for reading: Personal Book description, from the publisher’s website: “In American on Purpose, Craig Ferguson delivers a moving and achingly funny memoir of living the American dream as he journeys from the mean streets of Glasgow, Scotland, to […]

Shelf Awareness review: *Kindred Spirits* by Sarah Strohmeyer

Shelf Awareness review: *Kindred Spirits* by Sarah Strohmeyer

Kindred Spirits Sarah Strohmeyer Dutton Adult (2011), Hardcover (ISBN 0525952225 / 9780525952220) Fiction, 304 pages The following review was originally published in Shelf Awareness for Readers (7/12/2011 edition) and is reprinted with permission. One of the things that keeps long-term relationships interesting is that there are always new things to discover about the other person. The Ladies’ Society for the Conservation of Martinis, which grew out of a PTA meeting postmortem, learns this after the […]

(Audio)Book Talk: *Bossypants*, by Tina Fey

(Audio)Book Talk: *Bossypants*, by Tina Fey

Bossypants Tina Fey read by the author Reagan Arthur Books (2011),  Hardcover (ISBN 9780316056861 / 0316056863) (Audio edition 1609419693 / 9781609419691) Memoir/essays, 288 pages Source: Purchased audiobook Reason for reading: Personal Book description, from the publisher’s website: “Before Liz Lemon, before ‘Weekend Update,’ before ‘Sarah Palin,’ Tina Fey was just a young girl with a dream: a recurring stress dream that she was being chased through a local airport by her middle-school gym teacher. She […]

Book Talk: *Silver Sparrow*, by Tayari Jones

Book Talk: *Silver Sparrow*, by Tayari Jones

Silver Sparrow Tayari Jones Algonquin Books (2011), Hardcover (ISBN 1565129903 / 9781565129900) Fiction (contemporary), 352 pages Source: Publisher Reason for reading: Everyday I Write the Book’s summer Book Club Opening Lines: “My father, James Witherspoon, is a bigamist. He was already married ten years when he first clamped eyes on my mother. In 1968, she was working the gift-wrap counter at Davison’s downtown when my father asked her to wrap the carving knife he had […]