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The Invisible Ones by Stef Penney - Review and Blog Tour

2012-01-24T19:49:00.000-08:00

The Invisible Ones by Stef Penney is an interesting and flavourful mystery/ suspense story. At the outset of the novel a private investigator named Ray lay in hospital not sure why he is there. As the plot progresses, the story of his last investigation is slowly unveiled, as is the fact that he has been in a car crash and was apparently at one point also poisoned. Ray has been contacted by a father searching out his missing daughter, Rose Janko. But Rose has been missing for seven years and nobody has sought her until now. Why? And why after seven years is it suddenly necessary to locate her? All of the characters are gypsies (Romany), and the Janko family appears to be hiding some sort of secret. They may be cursed, some believe, evidenced by the fact that countless members of their family have been stricken by disease. This odd disease seems to occur only in the males. We soon learn Rose Wood, was married and had a son named Christo, afflicated by the disease. She is vilified by members of her husband's family who wonder why anyone would wish to find a mother who apparently abandoned her son. The family she has left behind struggle with secrets, disability and poverty. They invest their time and resources chasing strange, unproven treatments in hopes they can save their youngest family member.

Penney is an interesting and unique writer. Her characters are not extremely likable but plot and setting sustain the Invisible Ones. I found this novel a difficult read at times. Ray, the main character, is engaging and three dimensional and even memorable, perhaps because he is himself wounded in several ways. Ray is also part Romany, a fact that has led to his hiring. The narration is split, alternating chapters are told by Ray and JJ, the young nephew of Ivo. JJ provides an interesting counterpart and a different insider's view of the Janko clan. He is a somewhat naive narrator because of his young age, but it seems abundantly apparent from the start that JJ is himself, either withholding something vital to the investigation, or about to stumble onto a big clue. While I enjoyed these two characters and their opposing narratives, I found this to be stylistically jarring at times. There are few writers who can flawlessly juggle this alternating viewpoint style of narration. While I grew to expect the alternating chapters, and even understod why it was necessary in this story, I felt the chapter transitions might have benefitted from a minor massaging to make it flow better.

The setting of the story is very unusual and Penney scores points for that to be sure. The cultural elements are rich and believable. This is a world where some characters are full gypsy (Romany) and others only half. Intermarriage is frowned on and Rose, it turns out, was only a half Romany wife. There were many moments I felt it took far too long for the climax of the story to speed up the pace of the plot and create any urgency at all.

Penney is an interesting author, a bit mysterious herself. Born and raised in Scotland she was for a time agoraphobic. Her first novel The Tenderness of Wolves was an international bestseller. This is the first novel I have ever read by Penney.

The Invisible Ones by Stef Penney, Viking Canada, January 2012, $30.00, 416 pages, Fiction

This one gets $$$ out of $$$$$. If you enjoy mysteries with strong and compelling cultural backgrounds you will enjoy this novel. I was not compensated for my review but receive a free copy of the book for review purposes.

Thanks to Bronwyn Kienapple, the author and Penguin Canada for asking me to be part of this blog tour.

The Virgin Cure - Review

2012-01-11T09:14:00.000-08:00

From the opening line "Mama sold me the summer I turned twelve," Ami McKay's latest novel The Virgin Cure will hold your attention and keep you spellbound. Moth is a young girl of 12, part gypsy, living in dire poverty with her fortune-telling mother in 19th century Manhattan. She is endured by her mother and, from early on she is objectified and yet relatively unaware of her beauty. She is sold at 12 years old for a price she is never told and often fixates on, asking herself how much it took for a mother to sell her daughter. Moth becomes a maid in the home of a wealthy sadistic woman named Mrs. Wentworth. The mistress of the house beats her for the slightest infraction or inattention to detail and Nestor, an employee who befriends Moth eventually promises her there is a way out and he will help her find it. Unfortunately Moth is beaten terribly first and her beautiful hair hacked off, largely because the lady of the house maniacally worries her husband will return from business and lust after Moth.

Eventually Moth escapes this jail cell and sneaks home to where she once lived with her mother in the slums, only to find her mother is also gone. No home. No mother. No income and no family, she knows she is incredibly endangered in the slums. Her virginity, in the age of syphilis when infected men sought out virgins believing they could cure themselves by having sex with one, puts her even more at risk. When a charming young woman named Mae approaches Moth with the offer to live and be clothed and fed inside the home of a Madame, Moth makes a calculated choice. She becomes "an almost whore" or in other words a whore in training. She is cleaned up and groomed, in more ways than one, for a life serving men sexually. Moth is a naive child at the start of this novel, but the pace at which she is forced to grow up is extremely accelerated and almost unreal. Her character is somewhat complex because despite her age, she is quickly street savvy and smarter than most. She thinks her life as a near whore quite tolerable until faced with the reality of her debt to the madame that has essentially bought her service and virginity. Moth makes friends inside her new home and is mentored by a young whore named Rose. At times she is obviously still a child playing childish games like Tag and Hide N Seek and then she transforms into a bewitching and manipulative young mistress. I couldn`t help reading this book with an eye to how great and rich this book would be if adapted also for the screen.

Historically The Virgin Cure is fascinating and disgusting and a really compelling read. It is every bit as well written as the Birth House. Interspersed with snippets of news and trivia from the time period, it is extremely creative. I often am jarred by books that intersperse fake news fictionalized inside the plot of a novel, but for some reason here in this context the snippets of news weren't jarring to me. They were not necessarily rooted in realism but that seemed okay as it sort of supported the slightly gothic tone and the fabulous streak woven throughout. McKay writes fabulous female characters that are quite well rounded. Moth is such a great main character, really a unique girl child with a worldly side and, in the end although she is a whore, she is fantastically strong and fully takes charge of her own fate.

There is, of course, an unexpected twist towards the end that is not quite heartbreaking, but tragic nonetheless. This time period is very rich and McKay, of Nova Scotia, is a lovely writer reminding me slightly of London`s Emma Donoghue, author of Slammerkin and The Room.The Virgin Cure is well researched. McKay is very thorough at painting a scene and a historical period with accuracy. Thematically there is a lot to chew on here. This is the first novel of 2012 for me and it will prove hard to top. My only tiny complaint is the narrative that jumps slightly in viewpoint when the good doctor, Sadie Fonda enters the scene.

The Virgin Cure, by Ami McKay, Knopf Canada, 356 pages, New York, 2011, Hardcover, $32.00.
This one gets a $$$$ 1/2 out of $$$$$. A must read.

I was not compensated for this review. I received the book free from the publisher and am a member of the on line monthly book chat hosted by the lovely Wanda @YMCBookalicious who posts on books over at The Yummy Mummy Club. Go read her for more contests and book reviews.

Empire Theatres Buy $30 and get $30 Gift Cards

2011-12-08T15:06:00.000-08:00

I love gift cards. Huge fan here. This time of the year they are my go to present for the hard to buy for folks. You know - the teacher, the babysitter, the educational assistant helper at school, even then neighbour if they have been a good neighbour to me throughout the year. Empire Movie Theatre cards are blockbuster hits. Who doesn't like the gift of entertainment?And there are so many fabulous movies coming out this Christmas. You could be giving Grandma the gift of Tom Hanks this year! Pretty sure that would solidify your place as best grandchild ever in her heart. Not that you weren't already. ;)

For the second year in a row I am fortunate enough to be part of the Empire Theatres and Mom Central Canada blog tour about these great gift cards. This year, just like last when you buy $30 worth of the gift cards then you also get $30 worth of money-saving coupons to use throughout the year. For your information there are two great places to use Empire Theatres gift cards in and around London, Ontario. There is the London, Ontario Wellington Road Empire Theatre and there is an Empire Theatre in St. Thomas. There are many others throughout Ontario. So plenty of choices. I am using mine for date night this year since we finally found another babysitter. Oh and big Tom Hanks fan here too. So, see you at the movies, in 2012.

This year the coupons are great moneysavers, so keep them in your pocket or purse and don't forget them when you go to the movies:

January 9-31: Buy One general admission and get one general admission free.
January 9-31: Also $2 off any combo except for kid's combo.
February 1-29: Regular admission, plus regular soft drink and small popcorn only $9.99.
March 1 -31: One admission for $6.99.
March 1-31: Purchase a large popcorn, get a free large Coca Cola softdrink.
April 1-30: $4 off one general admission.

So, what are you waiting for head over to Empire Theatres in person, or on line and get your shopping done with Empire gift cards. http://www.empiretheatres.com/gift/

I am participating in the Empire Theatre Gift Card Holiday campaign with Mom Central Canada. I received compensation for my participation in this campaign. My opinions are all my own.

Oh and don't forget that tonight (Dec. 8th) Mom Central Canada is having a twitter party at 9 p.m. #empiregiving. Join us for a fun chat and some great prizes.

Book Bloggers, Publishing and Social Media

2011-10-28T09:45:00.000-07:00

I was fortunate to be able to interview Nicole Langan, the owner of Tribute Books recently regarding social media, bloggers and the future of publishing. As I know a lot of my readers are also writers and bloggers, I thought the answers would be interesting to many of you.

1. Can you tell me a bit about Tribute Books?
Nicole: Tribute Books began in 2004 and we've published over 30 titles since that time. Some of our books have gone on to win awards such as the Christian Small Publisher Book of the Year and the Mom's Choice Award while others were endorsed by PBS and The Thoreau Society. We've covered a wide range of genres from children to history to sports.

2. Describe your new project for my readers?
Nicole: In 2012, we will transition into being an ebook publisher for young adult titles. Our main reason is the explosion in popularity of e-readers such as the Kindle, Nook and iPad. Over the course of 2011, we've watched our ebook sales outpace our print sales by 2 to 1. The under $5 price point of most of our titles and the ease of purchase and delivery are surely contributing factors.

3. What are you looking for in an author? Who finds illustrator if needed?
Nicole: We're looking to work with authors who are savvy with social media - those who blog, tweet and update their Facebook status on a daily basis. I'm most excited about working with authors who enjoy promoting their book on a daily basis. Ones who know the ins and outs of the time and effort it takes to make a book a success because I'm ready and willing to work with them every step of the way.
(At this time, illustrations will not be needed since we're looking to e-publish solely text manuscripts.)

4. Why epubs and not traditional hard copy books?
Nicole: Our main reason is the explosion in popularity of e-readers such as the Kindle, Nook and iPad. Over the course of 2011, we've watched our ebook sales outpace our print sales by 2 to 1. The under $5 price point of most of our titles and the ease of purchase and delivery are surely contributing factors.

5. What is your social media experience and philosophy?
Nicole: I am a big believer in the power of social media. I even conduct monthly blog tours for outside publishers and authors in order to help them increase the online presence of a book. Book bloggers are a powerful force in the book industry. With more and more book stores closing and book review columns being cut from major newspapers, readers are depending on bloggers to help them find the books they want to read. They are turning to the internet as a reference point to fill that gap.

Thanks very much to Nicole and Tribute Books

Nicole Langan, owner of Tribute Books

The Best Digital Marketing Campaigns in The World: Review

2011-10-18T10:10:00.000-07:00

The truth about books on the subject of digital media. By the time they are published they are in fact out of date. Such is the case with The Best Digital Marketing Campaigns in The World. While it doesn't quite live upto the title, this book is an important offering for several reasons. First, in the world of social media case studies are slowly emerging to prove the importance of this marketing tool. In the traditional marketing field return on investment is the means of measuring impact. Nobody has been able to figure out ways to capture to ROI of social media until extremely recently. Enter case studies. The Best Digital Marketing Campaigns in The World takes several digital ad campaigns and expands on how they worked why they worked and what the audience and budget was. The astonishing part of some of these case studies is that the budget was nothing and they are still viewed by the authors as some of the most successful digital campaigns in the world. In this field there are a growing body of resources on line, but not so many traditional offerings. For that reason too this book should appeal to traditional marketing personnel. While I was looking forward to reading this book, because it is a compilation of successful digital media campaigns ranging from big name brands like Pizza Hut to Pepsi, Turbotax and the presidential campaign for Obama, it leaves a little to be desired. Books about social media and digital media need to engage on an entirely different level than regular traditional books. They need to think outside the box. So this type of book needs to not only market itself on twitter and facebook and run a social media campaign with blog tour or some social media author interaction with readers, but it needs to update itself in some ways making it more relevant than the regular book. I have seen this done simply with authors of fiction lately and have done more than a few blog tours which generate buzz. I have also seen it done smartly with Shama Hyder Kabani’s book The Zen of Social Media Marketing. Readers, marketers, publicity people and authors should go buy that book if they want to learn creative ways to continue and extend the life cycle of a traditional book. Social network advertising spending is expected to increase to a staggering $4.3 billion in a bid to attract today’s media-savvy consumer, $1.64 billion in the US alone. It is the fastest growing media ever. This book attempts to capture some recent successes and does a decent job of that. But it is by no means the best digital media campaigns. There are some creative ideas here. For instance the Dockers Iphone pants dance campaign through Medialets was fun and interactive. A Doritos campaign that was shot outside an insane asylum was very appealing to a teenage demographic and savvy. But I can think of a few recent social media campaigns that were even more successful or well publicized than these. The first and most well known – absent from this book – is the obvious Old Spice guy Facebook and more campaign. Author Damian Ryan has been at the forefront of the Irish media and advertising business for many years.Calvin Jones is a freelance writer, journalist, blogger and online marketer.

The Best Digital Marketing Campaigns In The World: Mastering The Art of Customer Engagement,
By Damian Ryan and Calvin Jones
Kogan Page Limited,
07/28/2011
ISBN: 978-0749-4-6062-4
ISBN: 0749460628
Paperback 224 pages
$16.99 and US $29.95

This one gets a $$$ out of $$$$$

The Kid

2011-09-20T17:36:00.000-07:00

The Kid by Sapphire, Penguin Press, 07/05/ 2011, 384 pages, $25.95
ISBN-10: 1594203040
ISBN-13: 978-1594203046

Sapphire is the author of the bestselling novel Push and two collections of poetry.

The Kid is by far the most disturbing novel I have ever read. When we first meet Abdul, he is nine and it is the occasion of his mother’s funeral. His mother was the main character Precious of the landmark novel Push. She has died of AIDS and her son is orphaned. It is a beginning that would seem to hint nothing worse could possibly happen to this child and yet, each time in this tragic book that Abdul seems to sink to his lowest point something even more horrendous drags him further into the abyss.
In many ways the story of Abdul Jones seems unreal, but it is gritty and devastating and a sad social commentary on many things such as child welfare, not only in the neighbourhood of Harlem. Sadly, while I believe Sapphire may have exaggerated character and plot to make a point, his story for an Aids orphan in America is probably not that far off the mark.
While it appears initially to the boy that he might, in his confused state, be taken into the care of his mother’s friend, Rita, a woman he calls Aunt, the social services system quickly puts an end to that childish naivete. The foster home he is moved to is horrific beyond description and from there on Abdul, also known as J.J., travels deeper into a hellish cycle of physical and sexual abuse that seems unending. Abdul is moved like a pawn through so many homes and institutions it becomes dehumanizing to say the least. Eventually he is moved to a school, run by Catholic Brothers, and he begins to blossom as a young intelligent soul who has had some hard breaks and yet, naturally he is targeted for abuse again and again. It is here that he grows large enough physically, and tortured enough mentally to become warped into a predator as well.
The Kid is another brave novel, just as Push was. But what happens here in this novel when the topic is male violence and male abuse and the abused turns into abuser, well it is beyond pushing the envelope, it is alienating and much too challenging for most. This character is one of the most tragic and complex characters I have ever encountered. While Precious had much that was redeeming and seemed to triumph at least spiritually over circumstances, with her writing, J.J., Abdul, Precious’ son, has an artistic side too. He is however unable to make it the tool to move past that which has been done to him. He is quite a bright young student full of potential, but that too makes him a target, prey for others.
Fifteen years after the publication of Push, after the Academy Award-winning film adaptation, Sapphire breathes the son to life. This is a sequel that is graphic and brave. It is compelling even as you want to throw it down in disgust. Sapphire’s style is still brilliant and gritty and urban, borrowing heavily on Virginia Woolf’s stream of consciousness technique. At times, when Abdul is claimed by a distant grandmother of sorts, it is difficult to tell where dream or story begins and ends. The Kid is not a novel I would recommend to many outside the field of child welfare. It is the most brutal coming of age story imaginable.

This is a frightening and harsh read. $$$ out of $$$$$. Not as memorable as Precious in Push.

Gabby - Book Trailer

2011-09-14T15:07:00.001-07:00

Makeda

2011-09-12T06:33:00.000-07:00

(My Full review appears in New York Journal of Books)

Makeda combines so many themes and genres it is slightly hard to categorize. It is a sweeping saga starting at the point of the civil rights movement and tracing the roots of a common history through time and, even space. Makeda is also the highly personal inner journey of one man, Gray March.

March is a conflicted young man when he comes to his grandmother’s parlour to enjoy her company, seeking refuge from his own life. He is alienated from his father and mother and, as we quickly learn, has brother has died under mysterious circumstances. The grandmother, the character of the title Makeda, is a blind woman who claims to have visions and recollects past lives and stories that resonate with Gray.

Makeda is a very matriarchal tale and the female characters here are admirable and strong, which is a rather unique thing to find in contemporary fiction. In fact, they are the heart and soul of the novel, despite the fact that the main character, Gray is a man. He is fashioned by the female influences in his life. Makeda has been blind since birth, but she dreams in color. She recollects several past lives through dream like states and, one of these dreams leads her grandson on a research expedition through Africa. Jeanne Burgess is the scholar and love interest that holds Gray’s past up as the stumbling block it is, and forces him to reveal and deal with his ghosts so that he can move forward.

Randall Robinson is an intellectual and a writer of note. He has numerous publications to his credit. He is the author of An Unbroken Agony and bestsellers, The Debt, The Reckoning, Quitting America and Defending The Spirit. This novel is well researched and intricate. It delivers a lot of historical fact. It is however at times too densely packed and might have been more aggressively pruned. Robinson’s prose is quite lovely in passages such as: “The month of March seems invariably to promise more than it delivers, teasing spring, frustrating hope’s impatience.” And yet there are moments that it is almost bogged down by the plot and excessive wordiness. While the main character Gray is accomplished and a scholar and the intellectual style of writing is not completely out of character, it is a barrier for readers. It is an intellectual affect - using four large words when one accurate one might do and make a work more accessible.

The reincarnation theme takes us through history and dabbles in magic realism. Robinson’s latest has earned some comparisons to the writings of Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Toni Morrison, but the latter author has more in common with Robinson stylistically and thematically.

While suspense is maintained through much of Makeda, the middle section lagged momentum. But the end of the story is more than worth the effort. The final few pages of Makeda are a breathtaking revelation, weighted with romance and lovely passionate prose.

Makeda by Randall Robinson, Akashic Books, Open Lens Imprint, 08/30/2011

ISBN 10: 1617750220, ISBN 13: 978-1-61775-022-9, 350 pages.

Thriftymommasbrainfood gives this one a $$$ 1/2 rating.

It's Your Kid, Not a Gerbil #Giveaway

2011-09-02T06:28:00.000-07:00

I don't often point out great giveaways here on brainfood, unless they are my great giveaways. But I am making an exception here because I love this author. So I wanted to share him with my readers. Especially if they have yet to hear of Dr. Kevin Leman. Dr. Leman writes smart parenting books. He has also written at least one children's book about adoption of which I am a big fan. The author, and Tyndale Books, have a super giveaway contest on right now. You can even win an IPOD. Tyndale and the author are giving away he new book, It's Your Kid, Not A Gerbil. You can visit the Tyndale Blog to enter where we're giving away an iPod Touch, three Kevin Leman book prize packs, and 5 copies of It's Your Kid, Not A Gerbil. Subtitle is Creating a Happier and Less Stressed Home. I think we can all benefit from that philosophy. Click on links below to enter. Don't forget to say that thriftymommasbrainfood sent you. Good luck!

To enter, visit the contest page and fill out the entry form after completing at least one of the following actions (each action completed counts as an entry into the giveaway).

Visit the It's Your Kid Not A Gerbil Facebook page and become a fan
Invite at least 10 friends to become a fan of the It's Your Kid Not A Gerbil Facebook page.
Share a link to this contest page on your own Facebook page or on Twitter.
Write a blog post linking to this contest page.

Untold Story - An Unusual Look at How Princess Diana's Life Might Have Gone

2011-07-02T06:14:00.000-07:00

Untold Story is quite unlike anything I have ever reviewed here. It takes a real character, Princess Di, who tragically died in a Paris tunnel car crash many years ago and manufactures a fictional future for her, had she lived. The main character in Untold Story is Lydia, a single woman living in a small town somewhat called Kensington anonymously and working at a shelter for animals. She is in a relationship with a man and seems reluctant to get too close to him. She has several girlfriends. As the story begins, her friends are all waiting for her to show up to a party and she is late for an unknown reason. The foreshadowing wasn't something I really picked up on with the first read of this book, but on a second pass through the manuscript it is evident. Chapter Two jumps back to a month before the party when life was normal for Lydia. She enjoys a quiet life with her dog and her friends. Occasionally she tortures herself with a peek at the gossip magazines seeking glimpses of her children, or her former life. In a side plot there is a photographer writing a book on occasion of the tenth anniversary of Princess Diana's death. He is travelling and pulling the book together much too slow for his publisher's desire and here the two plots will collide. Lydia is very skilled at lying to friends and giving them tiny snippets of truth to keep them from questioning her background or to keep them at a distance. Eventually she begins to have the feeling she might be being followed. It is a not unfamiliar feeling for her. When, after many years succeeding in having faked her death, she is found by a photographer, she must make a difficult choice: confront the man or run. Monica Ali is a truly creative author and this is a fantastic and compelling read. Ali takes as the premise the idea that Princess Di was "a gorgeous bundle of trouble" and she supports this with a character who exists in the book as the accomplice who helped Diana to stage her death. Through him we see how trapped she felt towards the last years of her marriage to Prince Charles. He is painted as cruel and controlling. We see also that this fictional Diana's children were being pulled from her already as she headed towards the inevitability of a divorce. So, Ali, seems to hint it might not have been such a leap for a woman like Diana to have faked her death. It would have been the only way to gain freedom. Ali is the author of two other novels, In the Kitchen and Brick Lane. She lives in the other London with her husband and two children. She was named one of Granta's twenty best young British novelists.

Untold Story by Monica Ali, is to be released in hardcover June 28, 2011, by Scribner Hardcover (Simon and Schuster Canada) Fiction, 272 pages, $25.00

This one is a $$$$ out of $$$$$. Fun and unconventional twist on a topic many of us thought we already knew.

I received a copy of this book to review for free and a chat will be occurring on line about the book through Wanda @YMCBookalicious and YummyMummyClub

My Foolish Heart by Susan May Warren

2011-06-24T20:07:00.000-07:00

I expected Susan May Warren's My Foolish Heart to read like a romance novel. And it does. But to dismiss this book as simple pulp would be doing it a grave injustice. There is real substance here with a main character who suffers paralyzing anxiety attacks and, we learn, was sole survivor in a terrible car crash. Isadora, Issie, is a radio host of a talk show about love called The Foolish Heart. She dispenses advice and listens to romantic issues and yet she is so deeply scarred by her post-traumatic stress disorder she is barely able to venture from her home and therefore also unable to fall in love. She lives in Deep Haven and is the daughter of the town's well loved former football coach. Football is almost as much a character here as are the grown high school students who never left town or left briefly and came back. Caleb is an ex-vet who was injured on duty in Iraq and has returned to town to audition for football coach. His nemesis Seb Brewster is also auditioning for coach. Caleb has been physically scarred over part of his face and yet, when he moves in next door to Issie she can't help but noticing how attractive he is. Lucy is the town's donut shop owner. She is Issie's friend and as the plot reveals also has a history with Seb. My Foolish Heart is about a town healing after the death of their beloved coach. It is the first book I have read by Susan May Warren. She has three others in the Deep Haven series. Warren has clearly done her research on anxiety and PTSD. She delves really graphically into the psychological and emotional issues that are coupled with these disorders. For this reason her characters are unique and deep and multi-faceted. Caleb calls into the radio show one night and falls for a voice without knowing the woman behind the voice is also his neighbour. He is both physically and psychologically scarred by the past. Can they both get over their many obstacles in order to find each other? The author Warren has written more than 30 novels and was once a missionary in Russia. She is married with four children and now lives in Minnesota.

This one is a $$$$ out of $$$$$. I received a free copy of this book for review. That in no way impacts my opinion.

My Foolish Heart by Susan May Warren, published by Tyndale Fiction, US, $13.99, 358 pages paperback.

A Global Quest to Eradicate the Horrific Use of Child Soldiers: A Review

2011-06-21T07:06:00.000-07:00

In areas of Latin America, Asia, Africa and the Middle East it is common practice to lure children into the horrific business of war by using rape, murder, fear, drugs and kidnapping as tools to keep the machine well oiled. They Fight Like Soldiers, They Die Like Children is an unflinching look at the harshness of the inhumane practice of turning children into killing machines. It is one of the hardest books you will ever read because it is so devastating and truthful. This book casts light on atrocities committed to girls and boys as young as six and seven, raped and drugged, tricked into murdering. The author, Romeo Dallaire, is a retired Lieutenant General of Canada. Now a senator, he served 37 years with the armed forces. He led an ill fated United Nations peace-keeping mission in Rwanda and as such came face to face with the reality of child soldiers. He is an officer of the Order of Canada and an Officer of the Legion of Merit of The United States. This story begins in Africa. There is a moving introduction by Ishmael Beah, author of A Long Way Gone, himself a child soldier for many years. The book moves into a slightly cumbersome stretch in which Dallaire outlines his purpose with the book and what is to be expected. Dallaire’s youth was spent in Quebec. He is the son of a retired Canadian staff sergeant serving in the Canadian Army. His father, he says, suffered what would now be called post-traumatic stress disorder. There is interesting background here and a chapter dubbed Warrior Boy illustrates how he grew into the young man that would eventually be perhaps Canada’s best known peacekeeper. This Canadian idyllic life of the young Dallaire, while not perfect, appears to be almost absurd in its privilege when juxtaposed against the chapter that follows, Kidom. Kidom is almost a children’s bedtime story when it begins. It is a brother and sister in Africa playing and imagining with a child-like sense of wonder at watching the world and nature unfold around them quietly and happily. The characters in this section are composites as is pointed out clearly early on, but they are rooted in reality. This portion of the book is the most powerful and devastating and heart-wrenching bit. It is told, at first, with something that leans heavily into the territory of magic realism as would be seen in a Gabriel Garcia Marquez novel. But by the end of the arc that is Kidom your heart will be ripped out. Kidom is the hardest part of the book to read, but it is also the most compelling. While I understand why this book was written in this way, I think this portion might have stood alone. In fact as hard as it was to read I think it would have been literary genius if the author had sustained that fictional composite story throughout. “I lay down on my belly in the soft dust, and with my chin cupped in my palms and watched a little sandfly struggle over the uneven ground. Why was he walking? If I had wings I’d always fly.” But Kidom ends on the saddest of notes and on with more historical fact. The book delves deeply into some of the humanitarian work and research being done around the world to understand and solve the problem of child soldiers. Chapter Eight winds back around to the story that was started in the section Kidom. In this chapter though, a fictional peacekeeper reacts to threat of death by killing a child soldier and Dallaire fictionalizes how that is experienced by a soldier. The book ends with a call to advocacy for all readers. There are simple suggestions on how to get involved by contacting media and more complex ideas on how to get involved fully with the Child Soldiers Initiative. This is Romeo Dallaire’s second book. Shake Hands With The Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda is the retired Lieutenant General’s first book, which also won the Governor General’s Literary Award in Canada. Shake Hands was acclaimed around the world and was also turned into an Emmy award-winning documentary and a feature film.

They FightLike Soldiers, They Die Like Children: The Quest To Eradicate The Use of Child Soldiers, by Romeo Dallaire with Jessica Dee Humphreys, Hardcover: 320 pages, Walker & Company (May 24, 2011) New York, $26.00 US

This one gets a $$$$ out of $$$$$. It is worth reading and a tragic topic on a global issue. I received an ARC (advanced review) copy of this book in order to write this review. This in no way impacts my opinion.

Please Look After Mom: A Review

2011-06-19T09:20:00.000-07:00

Please Look After Mom is a beautiful, sad and lyrical tale for anyone who has ever had a Mom or been a Mom. This one came to me as part of the national book club influencer program for http://www.EverythingMom.com and I found myself reading it with difficulty. This is not an easy story. The plot begins when the mother of a successful family in Korea goes missing at a train station in Seoul. It is an amazing rapid start to the plot that cannot help but hook you instantly. The mother, it is revealed, has been suffering stunning headaches and previously battled breast cancer. Through each one of the grown children, the mother's story is revealed slowly as that of a young girl who grew up in poverty in the Korean countryside and could not be educated or kept safe beyond a certain age. So instead she was presented to a man, a stranger, for an arranged marriage. Together they build a home and have four children. The young mother excels at feeding and nourishing things. Her gardening ability is unparalleled. Everything she touches blooms and her young family grows strong and successful. But they move on and for the most part still see their mother as she is defined within the context of home. The mother is a martyr and she goes to great extremes to nourish family and farm. This is a book with a unique narrative style utlizing the second person throughout. That is a quite uncommon technique as most novelists employ first person or third person. Often second person is tricky and not well done. But here the effect is one of drawing the reader fully into the story almost as their own character, a family member themselves participating in the retelling of the mother's life and the search. It is a remarkable accomplishment. Some chapters are told from the viewpoints of the different children and the husband as well. As we meet each one of the adult children we discover them realizing how little they know of their mother's inner life. It is a sad statement of fact that the daughter, a writer, when preparing a poster seeking help to find the mising mother, doesn't know her mother's true birthdate. A further sad statement on the marriage is revealed in the chapter when the hard as nails father of the family returns to their marital home and lays in bed overcome with grief that astonishes even him. He reflects on his habit of always walking too far ahead of the mother as a habit that may have led to her disappearance. And he understands too late how uncaring this one daily ritual must have seemed to his spouse. He understands too late also that he should have fought harder for better health care for his talented and undemanding wife. He feels guilt and shame and suprising amounts of love. Similarly each of the children realize the many sacrifices their mother made daily and they wonder if she was ever happy. They are all healthy and very successful in their fields. "After Mom went missing, I realized there's an answer to everything. I could have done everything she wanted me to. It wasn't important. I don't know why I got under her skin over things like that." Please Look Ater Mom is sad and beautiful and not for the faint of heart. It is a great story of sacrifice and, despite its fictional basis, speaks volumes about family relationships. It speaks to of the heart's many facets and the grief that comes with losing your strongest anchor in the world. "Even though Mom's missing, summer will come and fall will come again and winter will come, like this. And I'll be living in a world without Mom." The daughter has always had such a complicated relationship with her mother, but she alos realizes her mother's impact too late. She wrestles as an unmarried female with whether her mother succeeded in life, or was ever happy or content. She grapples too with how good a daughter she was or was not. Her desparate search is weighted with all of the events in her past and her unexpressed sentiments. It is pure tragedy. It is a rare book that causes a reader to reflect on their own life with an eye to change. This one has that ability.

Please Look After Mom, by Kyung-Sook Shin, is by Random House Canada. $29.95 hardcover and 237 pages (translated from the Korean)

This is a $$$$ 1/2 out of $$$$$.

I received a copy of this book for free in order to review it.

Giveaway: Secrets To Parenting Your Adult Child Book

2011-06-08T08:01:00.000-07:00

While many of us are still knee-deep in diapers, or sorting through the ups and downs of the turbulent tweens, I don't have to tell you how fast children grow. The blink of an eye, a weekend at the grandparents and it seems some mornings that you could almost swear your child looks an inch taller. From the time they are tweens, perhaps even from the time they start walking they begin the journey away from you. And while I know there are countless resources and parenting books for parents of toddlers and newborns, I've yet to see a tome dubbed the Teen Whisperer or the Young Adult Whisperer. In its place is this: Secrets to Parenting Your Adult Child, by Nancy Williams. Is this a book that is needed in the marketplace of parenting books? Oh yes, I would argue there is a great need and I wish frankly that it had existed a decade ago so my mother could have read it. Years ago we might have laughed at this notion: the adult child. We might have even shrugged it off as a thing that didn't exist. But the economy took a dive and grown children began leaving home a lot later. Marriage began happening a lot later than in previous generations and married career couples began waiting often until their 40s before they had their own children. Emptynesters often waited longer to become emptynesters, parenting adult children still living at home. It was most unexpected. So what are the ground rules, or guidelines for this new phase of your relationship? How do you respectfully live under the same roof as two grownups? How do you guide this adult without overstepping your boundaries? How do you continue to nurture in a supportive way the emotional health of this person who is still struggling to become independent? Luckily Nancy Williams, a licenced counselor and life coach, has some advice. Williams, also a parent of two, offers some ideas such as: active listening means not interjecting into their conversations comments like "I know just how you feel." In fact Williams points out, you probably don't really know how they feel because this social phenomenon is quite new. "We must be careful to withhold comments that may appear judgemental and avoid comparisons with other children _ their siblings, their friends, our friend's children." This is so vital to maintaining a supportive relationship. We all know how awful it feels to be compared in a negative way to someone else's accomplishments. It undermines our confidence and also makes us question how conditional the love of a parent is. Williams challenges parents to be listeners, to use their hearts while listening and to respect that each person is unique and know that your goal for that person, your adult child, might be entirely different than their goal. Respect their vision, she says. Good advice for any stage of parenting. Become a positive coach. Use phrases like: "Tell me more," "How can I help you with that?" Also don't forget simple communication tools like using I statements. Secrets To Parenting Your Adult Child is a great communication tool to have on hand in general for any person with a a child in their teens and beyond. Williams can help you get to that next level with your child. While she won't be able to help your adult child find a job or move out on their own in an economy where jobs seem scarce, she provides some good solid practical advice.

Secrets to Parenting Your Adult Child is a $$$$ out of $$$$$. The price is right for this book which fills a niche that doesn't really get much attention. Good communication skills are vital for all relationships and with your children you certainly want to be there throughout their lives, not just until they turn 21. It should be given to all parents when their children are 18 and up.

Secrets to Parenting Your Adult Child by Nancy Williams, Bethany House, US, $12.99 Christian Life and Parenting, 216 pages.

Giveaway: (Open to Canada and US. Ends June 15th)
Mandatory:
1.You must follow thriftymommasbrainfood on GFC (see side bar)
2. Leave me your email address so I can contact you if you win.
Extra ENTRY:
1.Tweet about the giveaway - once per day. One extra entry. The tweet can be like this: "I entered to win the Secrets to Parenting Your Adult Child on http://www.thriftymommasbrainfood.blogspot.com/"

Whole Foods To Thrive: A Runners Must Have Plus Free Recipes and a #Giveaway

2011-06-02T06:45:00.000-07:00

Brendan Brazier, a North Vancouver athlete and the best-selling author of the Thrive Diet, wasn't actually on my radar until recently when Penguin sent me this book to review. Initially I was intrigued by the fact that he is a Canadian, and then I spotted the amazing endorsements on this book from world-renowned athletes and celebrities like Hugh Jackman. You don't have to be a trend-watcher or buzz agent to know that the Whole Foods movement is hot right now. So the book had buzz, endorsements and a Canadian cool quotient that hooked me. But let's face it these things are really more like icing on a cake or eye candy. So how about the book itself, or the cake if you want a food metaphor to follow? Is it every bit as yummy as the intial suggestions? The answer, in short, is yes. Whole Foods to Thrive is an amazing resource that I will keep in my kitchen for years to come. It is a self help book, crossed with a cookbook and lifestyle/diet guide. It is chock full of common sense science that supports the idea that people's bodies get sick, physically and psychologically, because of the way we eat. Remove the processed foods, ditch the sugar and other stimulants and pay attention to how your body responds. Now I can't actually say that I have hopped on this bandwagon yet. I aspire to get there eventually. Brazier's recipes will help. The latter half of the book has the most remarkable whole food recipes like Zucchini Hummus, a recipe that is provided by Gorilla Food in Vancouver, British Columbia, and Pumpkin Gnocci from the Millennium Restaurant in San Francisco. There are over 200 recipes here and I can't wait to get started making several. All of the recipes included are plant-based, allergen free and contain no wheat, yeast, gluten, soy, dairy or corn. Even if you had no interest in the rest of this book - which is highly unlikely if you pick it up and spend a couple of hours with it - the recipes alone are well worth the price. I love the natural approach and the science at the start of this book that explains how things like caffeine work on our bodies. This is a great educational tool for those remotely interested in nutrition and self change.

I learned from this book that despite my initial misgivings coconut oil is one of the healthiest and most easily digestible ways to fry food. It is the best and only way to fry according to Brazier, who notes that because it is so easily digestible it converts quickly to energy. This is smart eating and cooking and I can easily use much of this and pass the information down through my family.

The author Brendan Brazier

Some tips from the book:

"The consumption of chlorophyll-rich leafy green vegetables combined with moderate exercise is the best way to create a biologically younger body."

"Squash - combined with the correct workout - will contribute to the process of muscle building."

"Less energy spent on digestion equates to more available energy."

Two Free Recipes (Excerpts From the Book!!)

Ginger Pear Smoothie

with Sunflower Seed Hemp Milk

The riper the pear, the sweeter the smoothie. If you’d like it even sweeter, add one

or two fresh or soaked dried dates. Since ginger is a natural anti-inflammatory,

this is an ideal choice for a post-workout snack. (2 minutes, makes 3 cups)

1 banana

½ pear, cored

1 cup water

1 cup Sunflower Hemp Seed Milk (see p. 126)

1 tbsp ground flaxseed

1 tbsp hemp protein powder

1 tbsp peeled, grated ginger

• In a blender, combine all ingredients and blend until smooth.

Chocolate Almond Smoothie

with Sacha Inchi Milk

Rich in protein and omega-3, this smoothie will keep you going for hours with

sustainable, non-stimulating energy. (5 minutes) Makes 2 lg servings.

1 banana

2 fresh or presoaked dried dates

1 cup water

1 cup Sacha Inchi Milk (or chocolate variation) (see p. 126)

¼ cup almonds (or 2 tbsp raw almond butter)

1 tbsp ground flaxseed

1 tbsp hemp protein powder

1 tbsp roasted carob powder

• In a blender, combine all ingredients and blend until smooth.

Whole Foods To Thrive: Nutrient-Dense, Plant-Based Recipes for Peak Health, is by Brendan Brazier, published by Penguin Canada, 288 pages, May 2011, Adult, Nutrition, $28.00

This one gets a $$$$$ out of $$$$$ because it is the whole package, no pun intended. The recipes and the healthy cooking and eating tips all combine for a great resource and healthy eating guide.

Luckily I have a prize to giveaway too thanks to Penguin, Vega and the author. Open to Canada only. This is ideal for runners.

The prize pack contains six Vega smoothie mixes (either Shake & Go Smoothie mixes or Complete Whole Food Health Optimizer mixes) in an assortment of flavours like Vanilla Chai, Bodacious Berry, and Choc-a-Lot.)

GIVEAWAY:

1.To win you must follow me on Google Friend Connect -( see side bar of my blog).

2. Leave me your email and tell me which package you would choose - Shake and Go or Whole Food Optimizer).

I will contact the winner and forward their email or address onto Bronwyn at Penguin. Winner will be chosen here by me on June 10th, with help of random.org.

Shake and Go Smoothie Mixes (Prize package)

Whole Food Optimizer Smoothie Mixes (Prize Pack) You can win one or the other

Skinny - A Fun and Frightening Look at Kid's Camps

2011-05-17T07:51:00.000-07:00

Skinny, by Diana Spechler is as divine as a gourmet dessert. I suspect this is one novel that will be found on many beaches, and in the hands of many at the cottage, this summer. Skinny is delicious, smart and funny. Skinny is a unique story inspired by the author’s summer stint at a children’s weight loss camp. It is a work of creative non fiction. It takes a serious jumping off point and an austere subject – health issues, both physical and mental, relating to childhood obesity, and it spins that off into a tongue in cheek almost satirical look at an industry that is perhaps out of control. It is a savvy title that can at once refer to the weight loss industry itself and the ‘skinny’ or truth at the heart of the relationships people have with food. There were moments when Skinny reminded me of a Michael Moore documentary on food. There were other moments when the main character Gray also harkened back to the main character at the heart of the Margaret Atwood novel, The Edible Woman. As the novel begins Gray, the main character, 26, is dealing with deep grief and guilt. Her very obese father has recently died. “After I killed my father, he taught me that honesty is optional,” she states. In the wake of his death she finds that she is unable to stop eating. One day, as Gray hunts through her father’s financial papers and emails, she finds evidence she has a half sister, Eden. Eden’s private life is quite exposed through social media and so Gray already thinks she knows a lot about her half sister when she signs on as a camp counsellor at the weight loss camp Eden is attending. The characters in Skinny are composites, which shouldn’t be surprising as these characters are much too funny, ironic and colourful to be entirely real. Take Lewis, for instance. Lewis is the camp founder who, without spoiling the ending of the book is slightly hypocritical and completely full of himself. He is a full blown narcissist who takes $11,000 per child for a summer that promises to transform children from overweight, bullied, victims to svelte, healthy members of society. Sheena is the very comical former foster child from the wrong side of the tracks who ascends to activities coordinator and wins the love of all the campers. She is also slightly deranged. Mikey is Gray’s moody boyfriend back home and Bennett is the well sculpted summer fling, an assistant at the camp. Spechler is a talented writer effortlessly moving between flashback type scenes and present day. She writes with skill and expertise, and the flow of the narrative is never strained, despite the jumps back and forth in time. Her flashbacks are so organic that the reader hardly knows they are happening and isn’t ever jolted. Spechler is also the author of Who By Fire. She lives in New York City and her writing has appeared in the New York Times, GQ, Details, Never and Glimmer. Skinny is contemporary in its topic matter and cultural references and somewhat horrifying in its harsh look at the obesity industry. If even a portion of this story is true as the author says it is, Skinny will be slightly horrifying for a whole group of parents that spend money sending their children to overnight camps.

Skinny, by Diana Spechler, Harper Perennial, 368 pages, April 19, 2011, New York, Paperback $14.99.
Thriftymommastips gives this one a $$$$ out of $$$$$.
I received a copy of the book free for review.

Smart Female Characters and Adoption History Lessons: A Review of the Novel, Angel Sister

2011-05-02T07:26:00.000-07:00

Angel Sister is a sweet, moving, tale that has all the elements of a good story. It is a story of family and forgiveness and survival, but Angel Sister is also an unlikely adoption story of sorts set against a backdrop of depression era America. Kate Meritt is the middle daughter in a big family struggling to find their way and stay strong during a terrible economic time that has tested many and left others destitute. Kate is a spirited girl who speaks her mind. With a tangle of dark hair that is often unkempt, a penchant for saying what she thinks, and a stronger interest in playing outside than in, she is not like her quiet girly sisters. "Brothers are alright, but a sister, she can understand things about you without ever saying a word. It's like your heart divided and made another person." Kate's mother reminds her she is fortunate to have sisters, but Kate sometimes seems so much more mature than the rest of her siblings, that she is not so sure any of her existing biological brothers or sisters are a blessing. Kate's father Victor is an alcoholic with what would be known today as post-traumatic stress disorder from fighting in the war. The mother Nadine is the daughter of the town's preacher, a man who has always inspired more fear than respect and who clearly objected to his daughter's choice of husband. He is a slightly foreboding presence and an influence on their entire community, a rural spot ironically named Rosey Corners. Kate is out running a jar of jam to her grandfather, Father Reece, the preacher, one day when she finds a small girl Lorena Birdsong, abandoned on the church steps by a family that apparently had little choice but to flee town with no money, no jobs and a very sick young son. What is interesting about this book is the historical insights into a time when this is really what life would have looked like for so many in America. As well, the author gives us a unique look at the early phenomenon of adoption before it was really even regarded as such. Adoption here is a very sad and unfortunate result of the economy. It is not legally binding in any way, but more so a kinship arrangement in which a town got together and decided what would be best for the child and the community in general. It is common sense in a lot of ways. But Kate is the one who has found the little girl Lorena, dirty and waiting on the church steps for someone to be her "angel." She takes one look at Kate and quickly decides Kate must be her angel. The elder girl and her family really are in no position to add another child to their stressed full, but loving home, and yet her heart and conscience tell her the girl belongs with them. Kate cleans little Lorena up and takes her home with her. Conflict arises when Kate and the family fall for the child, but the church and community agree she must go live with a childless and somewhat unfriendly couple. At the point it is announced by Grandfather Reece in the church that Lorena shall go live with the Baxters, a couple of people stand up to protest, but it is Kate's voice that rings out loud and clear. Unfortunately at that precise moment she chooses to speak out, the preacher has a stroke in front of the congregation. Poor Lorena Birdsong goes to dwell with the Baxters and Kate keeps an eye from afar as the plot gets more complicated. I won't spoil the end of the story for my readers, but there are multiple levels of plot complications towards the end of the book that make this novel a really interesting book despite a rather slow start. Gabhart is a lovely writer and her characters in Angel Sister are really dynamic, especially the females. Kate is a charming and really three dimensional youth you will enjoy spending time with. I picked this book to review because of the title and the hint of an adoption plot. I enjoyed it because of the great female characters and the historical insights into a period of time that seems to echo, in more ways than one, the current socio-economic climate of southern Ontario.

Ann Gabhardt is the best-selling author of several novels. She has written The Outsider, The Believer and The Seeker.

Angel Sister, by Ann Gabhart, 2011, Revell Publishing, 407 pages, $14.99

This one gets $$$$ out of $$$$$

I received this novel for free to review, and this in no way impacts my original review.

The Weird Sisters

2011-04-26T07:07:00.000-07:00

The Weird Sisters, by Eleanor Brown is a clever indulgence of a book, a bittersweet treat that will appeal to those who love literary fiction, or a passion for Shakespeare. The Weird Sisters is the story of three sisters, Rose, Bean and Cordy, or, when read as a contemporary and smart adaptation of King Lear, Rosalind, Bianca and Cordelia. Lear, in this telling of the story, is a professor at the University of Barnwell, a big fish inside a rather small bowl. He lives his life entirely in plays and books and recites bits of dialogue where conversation should be, and that makes life with this patriarch challenging and awkward. In current vernacular he might have been diagnosed with something akin to Asperger's disorder or giftedness. He possesses brilliance and he is a remarkably loyal husband to an equally brilliant and scatter-brained wife, but he also is socially inept. Imagine being raised as the child of two parents such as these. Minds on fire all the time and yet often unable to stop thinking long enough to perform the most basic of domestic tasks required to raise a house full of girls. And so naturally the eldest of the girls, Rose has become the motherly figure, organizing everyone's lives. As her fiancee has accepted a teaching position abroad for a time in England, Rose is adrift, back home again, not really by choice, but mostly due to the fact she cannot make up her mind if she truly wants to get married. As the story begins, there are three sisters, each returning home austensibly to help their mother battle breast cancer. But as the plot unfolds, it is revealed that each sister has their own reason for returning home. Each has failed in their attempts to live outside this tiny community on their own. Bianca, Bean, is home because she has lost a job, having stolen funds to keep herself living in the New York fashion she is accustomed to. Her clothing, material goods and lifestyle of flirting and disposing of men has caught up with her legally, and her age has also begun to interfere. In a particularly poignant scene Bean, desparate to prove her worth by seducing a man, heads to the Barnwell poolhall and finds a sad group of men on the prowl. Despite her self and her reservations, she pulls out all the stops trying to seduce them, men she wouldn't even begint o look at twice in New York, and yet here she must settle. As she is honing in for the kill, a group of young women enter the bar and the lovely Bianca is tossed aside, like last night's leftovers. "What did this mean for her? What do you do when you are no longer the one worth watching? When there are women less beautiful, less intelligent, less versed in the art of the game who nonetheless can beat you at it simply because of their birth date?" Rosalind, Rose, is the homebody, the eldest daughter, faithful and loyal to her family, but a brilliant mind in her own right, unable to realize her full potential, unable too to move on to England where her fiancee has accepted a job as a professor. She is the martyr of the trio. Will she be able to rise above that stereotypical role in time to save herself? Cordelia, Cordy is the baby of the group, an overgrown Hippy roady, allowing the winds to blow her about, never finding anchor until she is forced to re-examine her lifestyle due to an unexpected pregnancy.
Each of the three sisters has a complicated relationship within the family. As the narrator puts it in the start of the book. "See we love each other, we just don't happen to love each other very much." They are each a great deal more like their parents than they think they are, and therefore everyone exists slightly socially awkward in the world and much too reliant on the plots and words that they have read and internalized. As their mother prepares for a mastectomy, the narrator says: "Another family might have made preparations. Another mother might have cooked casseroles in Corningware and frozen them, labeled with instructions." Instead to the hospital each of the sisters brings with her, a book in which they will escape and avoid having to confront real life. "Instead, we would do what we always did, the only thing we'd ever been depebndably stellar at: we'd read."
In some ways this book is also a charming look at a marriage that is quite remarkable. There are glimpses here that illustrate how interconnected husband and wife are, growing even more intertwined as they are challenged by cancer. There is a comical aside here by the sisters, noting the irony of the fact that so much literature is written on the impact of divorce and none written about the equally onerous impact of a marriage that is epic in strength and duration. How, states one of the sisters, could we ever be expected to find for ourselves a love that is so great? The Weird Sisters is a charming literary coming of age story and a savvy retelling of Shakespeare. It is a dark look at the relationships within a family and the many ways in which family can often simultaneously support, nurture and hurt each other the most.

The Weird Sisters, by Eleanor Brown, Feb. 2011, Putnam Books, Penguin Group Canada, 336 pages, $24.95 US or $31.00 Canadian.

Thriftymommastips rating is $$$$ out of $$$$$.

I received a copy of this book in order to facilitate the review. This in no way impacts or alters my opinion.

Beside Still Waters: Not Your Average Amish Fiction Story

2011-04-18T06:35:00.000-07:00

Beside Still Waters is an unexpected and gorgeous treat of a book. It's like buying a trip off the Internet for the first time. You cross your fingers and take a leap of faith. Then you get there and discover you landed a 5 star resort with world class dining and an unexpected room upgrade. It is clear from page two on that Beside Still Waters is the equivalent of landing a five star resort. On this journey there is fine writing with great and moving characters and a stunning, heart-wrenching, plot. From the first page the author grabs you and won't let you go. Tricia Goyer has a real talent for gripping your heart, evoking emotion, and inspiring imagination. Beside Still Waters: A Big Sky Novel is the first book in a new series by Goyer. The book begins with a terrible tragedy, and an early birth that follows hot on the heels of the tragedy - life asserting itself even as grief reigns down on the Sommer family. The plot that unfolds reveals themes of growth, grief, romance, faith, differences and tolerance. Marianna is the infant born the same day her parents experience a horrible life-altering tragedy. She is, at once, a blessing and a lifelong reminder of their tragedy. Not surprisingly her character is sobre beyond her years. Marianna is the eldest daughter in her family and therefore often charged with child care. When we first meet her she is 18 planning a life in her community in Indiana, a place she has known all of her life. But her family is unable to move past their losses. They have also lost an older son, Levi, the brother to Marianne, who chose to leave Amish life for the world of the Englisch. In Indiana, Aaron Zook is the near perfect Amish young man who has her in his sights and quickens her heart. He is already building their home together despite having never really even asked her for an official date. Despite the many sadnesses that plague and follow Marianna, she believes she can see a future with Aaron. But her father shocks her with news they will leave their home and try to start fresh in Montana. Marianna agrees to give the new home six months and then she will return to her church, her home and the life that is waiting with Aaron. Or will she? A long train trip with her family is Marianna's first real experience with the Englisch. And while there is a lovely older woman who speaks to her of faith and trusting God on the train trip, there is also a belligerent drunk young man who hits on Marianna prompting her father to step in and threaten physical retaliation. Goyer has an interesting way of illustrating the good with the bad and through her character's psychological journeys, showing that black and white sometimes make grey.

Tricia Goyer is a remarkable talent. Goyer is the author of 24 books including Songbird Under a German Moon. She has also written a Mommy memoir called Blue Like Play Dough. She has been published in magazines and has written for Today's Christian Woman and Focus on The Family. She doesn't rely on the old standby stereotypes, or even the predictable Amish fiction romance plots. Her characters challenge the norms for Amish tradition. They have strong psychological lives. For instance, while it is common that Amish people live all their life in one area, this family in Beside Still Waters, moves to Montana. Despite the fact that the Amish are peaceful people, they can also be moved to violence should the opportunity demand it. Marianna's father threatens to hit a young man hitting on Marianna when she is on the train ride. Marianna questions him after and he tells her he was merely calling the young man's bluff. Goyer magically balances the allure of that which is different, the English culture, and the appeal of a familiar Amish life. She has created in Marianna a really strong, authentic, and lovely character I hope readers get to see more of in future books. To assume that this is a simple romance is to do great injustice to this novel, a book that could hold its own with any best-selling fiction novel I have read.

Beside Still Waters, by Tricia Goyer, released April 2011, paperback, is published by B&H books, 320 pages and $14.99 US.

I give this one a $$$$ 1/2 out of $$$$$.

I was provided with a free copy of this book to review. This in no way impacts my opinion.

Tricia Goyer has her own blog over at http://www.triciagoyerblogspot.com/

She is running a giveaway there right now offering five readers each a copy of this book. She also has a unique Amish salt and pepper set for one winner.

Lazarus Awakening: Finding Your Place in the Heart of God: A Review and a Giveaway

2011-04-15T07:31:00.000-07:00

Joanna Weaver's latest book is an honest look at moving faith beyond your head to your heart. For those who need to periodically reexamine their faith and their role in accepting religion, this book is a must read, especially for women. Lazarus Awakening is a look at how to open your heart to God's voice and to his actions. It is not a ten quick steps guide to living through God or anything quite so simplistic. In a world that seeks so much scientific proof to back up theory, it is a compelling essay on how to move beyond that to a place where a Christian can see the actions of God and trust that he is there even when those desperate times appear and he seems absent. In many ways this is a book about trust.

Weaver speaks of her childhood and her intuitive knowledge that God was there guiding her and accepting her as something that was almost a nursery rhyme in its familiarity. And yet, she notes that while she knew this to be true and she felt safe in God's love, she also experienced this as a somewhat threatening and heavy-handed type of love. As she writes: "I saw my heavenly Father as a stern teacher with a yardstick in His hand, pacing up and down the classroom of my life as He looked for any and all infractions...Most of the time I lived in fear of the yardstick."

Lazarus Awakening: Finding Your Place In The Heart of God is the third book in a series by Weaver that started with Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World and then followed with Having a Mary Spirit. The poetic title Lazarus Awakening is a reference to the Biblical character Lazarus, brother to Mary and Martha, who falls ill and dies. Mary and Martha bury him and Jesus comes back to show them his power and ressurect Lazarus from the dead. The stones in front of Lazarus' grave are also metaphors for blockages in our lives impeding belief and faith. The three stones, according to Weaver are: unworthiness, unforgiveness and unbelief.

And in many ways Lazarus is a metaphor here - a smart one - for the absence of something and the experience of faith. Lazarus is mostly known in the Bible for his absence, his death and then his reawakening. The parallel of course is that God's love is like that, and so is faith. Weaver sees the reader as Lazarus and the intention within this book then must be to reawaken the audience.

There are interesting little snippets of scripture and also some quizzes to help readers access more self knowledge throughout the process of reading this book. There are also some cultural references the author draws on to make a point and a nice study guide is in the book for Bible study groups and Christian women's groups who may choose this book to explore further. All in all this is an easy read and relevant. I liked the metaphor and also found the writing style accessible. I think this author is quite appealing because she draws on the universal childhood experience of religion being taught to you as something that is done to a child and for a child, but not necessarily internalized by the child. Lazarus Awakening is a guide that helps explain the process of growing from that passive child into an active adult relationship with God.

Lazarus Awakening by Joanna Weaver, published by Waterbrook Press, US $19.99 and Canadian $22.99 Christian Living, Women, Non Fiction, Self Help, 221 pages

Thriftymommas rating is $$$1/2 out of $$$$$. An easy read. This would make a great choice for a Christian women's book club.

I received a copy of this book for free to facilitate this review. This in no way impacts my opinion.

I enjoyed this book so much I would like to share a copy with my readers.

To enter this giveaway:

1. Follow me on GFC and leave a comment as to why you'd like to win.

2. Don't forget to leave me your contact information so I can get the book to you.

I will draw for this one on April 25th.

Five Trends To Watch in Publishing

2011-04-09T06:04:00.000-07:00

Five Trends To Watch in Publishing:

An Industry in Flux

by Paula Schuck

Anyone following trends in print media and book publishing will know that this is nothing if not an industry in flux. I am fortunate enough to have front row seats to the evolution of books and media and it is at once a challenging and exciting time. The publishing world was quick to recognize the threat, but they were also, in print media incredibly slow to act upon it and challenge their traditional genre. But over the past few months I have noticed a number of increasingly savvy and interesting approaches to forcing interactivity upon readers. So if ebooks are the new norm and social media is the fastest growing media ever, how then are books, three dimensional handheld books, making themselves relevant or reasserting themselves in an industry in flux?
In the past few months I have seen a number of really creative ideas.
1. The new standard for book tours - is the book blog tour. I have run several here at thriftymommasbrainfood. The virtual book tour makes a lot of sense. Authors don't need to knock themselves out quite as much criss-crossing Canada to flog their newest release. Instead they do so by pitching bloggers, simply sending books out to a select group with on line influence. There are often accompanying contests, giveaways and reviews.
2. CDs/trailers other media. Sing You Home by blockbuster best-selling author Jodi Picoult has a CD tucked inside the front of the her latest novel, you are to play the CD as a supplement to the chapters. The songs by Ellen Wilber are essentially a soundtrack to the book. This book was published by Simon and Schuster Canada.
3. Complementary use of social media. I just finished a book being promoted by Graf-Martin Media called The Heart Revolution. The author is Sergio De La Mora. The book itself is an empowering faith-based book teaching people to reconnect with their heart and trust the power of that to drive your actions throughout life. Punctuating the book, published by Baker Group, are several links to web sites. The links take you to sermons on line. Creative.
4. Kids books are employing on line games and tricks that kick it up a notch. Best example I have seen of this lately is The Search For Wondla, by Tony Diterlizzi, also published by Simon and Schuster. Main character Eva Nine's life comes to a computer near you if you hold parts of the book upto a camera on your computer. Bizarre and yet how very logical for sci fi children's fiction, especially for this generation of children.
5. But truly the smartest thing I have seen so far is The Zen of Social Media Marketing by Shama Hyder Kabani. A book about marketing with this fast-growing media form, the savvy author takes her material to an entirely different dimension. She clearly indicates at the start of the book, that buying it also gives you access to to the continuously updated digital version. Access the site for http://www.zenofsocialmedia.com/ and put the password in provided in her book and receive her latest data and expert opinion.

Money and Marriage by Matt Bell

2011-04-07T06:43:00.000-07:00

I have been reading excellent bloggers this week on how to smartly title a blog post so that it gets noticed. Now normally I would think that a literary title about money might be savvy, but it turns out that I am wrong. All the smart bloggers I admire say simple is best. Apparently Google doesn't really get literary flowery post titles. So what does that have to do with Money and Marriage? Well clearly this title is succinct. But essentially it tells you everything you need to know to buy the book. Money and Marriage. There is arguably no greater issue in a marriage than money. It can make your relationship challenging to say the least. Luckily author Matt Bell is here to help.

"Couples who disagree about finances at least once a week are over 30 % more likely to divorce than couples who disagree about finances a few times a month."

Money and Marriage: A Complete Guide for Engaged and Newly Married Couples contains many excellent guides, charts and activities designed to help new couples discover more about each other's financial goals, debts and worth. Remember that marriage course you had to take before you walked down the aisle? Well Money and Marriage is like that course, neatly contained in a book, for your finances. Matt Bell begins by outlining the many ways in which men and women are different in terms of spending, saving and investing. Men, for instance, follow business news more often than women. Men cite investing and entrepreneurship as high on their list. Women cite saving and spending as key issues with money. Women are more likely than men to give time and money to charity. If our approaches to money are so different, then is it any wonder than most couples argue about it a lot?

Financial literacy is nothing if not a hot topic these days in light if such severe economic woes in much of North America. Bell, also the author of Money, Purpose, Joy and Money Strategies for Tough Times, provides a helpful guide to start couples on the right track in their new lives together.

There are some helpful practical and common sense tips here, that I like. For instance, continue learning outside the workplace for as long as your are able, especially before children arrive. You increase your worth as a worker if you are always on top of trends and information. Also many workplaces have some sort of tuition reimbursement or cost savings program. Accelerate your payments whenever possible. Avoid debt and where you have debt prior to your marrige be honest with each other about it. Also contact the bank or credit card company to ask for a lower interest rate on your credit cards. Often this is a simple phone call and this is a practical strategy I use here as well.
For this review and book tour there is also an excellent contest going on. I hope every one of my readers takes time to enter. Thanks to Matt Bell for the great giveaway!

Money and Marriage, by Mat Bell NavPress, 2011, $14.99 softcover, 219 pages

Thriftymommastips rating is $$$1/2 out of $$$$$. The price is right for this book about money. I learned a lot about how spending habits and investing strategies differ by gender.This is clearly an American book with US references throughout. That's perfectly fine and Canadians can still use a lot of the common sense information here. I am unsure that prayer and money belong together in a book.

I received a free copy of this book to review. This, in no way impact my honest opinion.

The Heart Revolution

2011-04-06T10:56:00.000-07:00

The Heart Revolution by Sergio De La Mora is a book that surprised me with its power, creativity, and positive messages. Sergio De La Mora invites you to take a 40-day heart challenge reading along and rethinking your life, framing it in a positive light and allowing yourself to trust entirely your heart. It is the power of your heart that can lead you to success or keep you from fully embracing your greatness. I was skeptical when I began this book, but the author Sergio De La Mora won me over with his authenticity and his passion. De La Mora is the founder of the Cornerstone Church of San Diego, California, one of the fastest growing churches in the USA. He lives in San Diego with his wife and six daughters. But almost more importantly than any of that he came from a background of poverty as a Mexican immigrant to the US and was quickly initiated into gang culture as were some of his brothers. Sergio De La Mora was using drugs regularly as a young teen, smoking PCP and hanging with a gang his brother's friends had started to keep from getting beaten up. Tragically, De La Mora was stabbed in the back when he was in grade eight and he spent many months recuperating. A good deal of that time was spent listening to radio and as he grew to appreciate the power of words, he realized he wanted to become an on air radio personality. He got his DJ's licence and became quite well known as a celebrity Disc Jockey. The entertainment industry only fueled his drug habit. On a day when De La Mora, was promoting one of his own dance events, he discovered a flyer for the Cornerstone Church and he followed his instincts into a meeting there. De La Mora describes his young self, anticipating an imminent spiritual and physical break down, attending the meeting while high on cocaine. "So the night before I had come to church I had done two things. One, I did half a gram of cocaine, because I never went anywhere without being high. And two I told God these words: If You can change my life and take this monkey off my back I will do anything You want." He knew he needed to get out of the life he was living and he found this particular church just when he needed it. The pastor there won him over and Sergio quit his job and became active at the church. Prior to the meeting he had felt that God couldn't forgive him, a strung out Cholo. Regardless of your particular spiritual beliefs, or your degree of religiosity, this is a book that comes down to passion and life goals and philosophy. It is incredibly innovative. I loved that there were small breaks after some chapters directing the reader on line to sermons that supplement the writing. This is a smart way to encourage two things books to become more interactive and relevant and people to become more involved in the actual revolution itself. I applaud Baker Publishing and Sergio De La Mora for being creative and innovative in an industry that is in flux. Here for instance http://www.sergiodelamora.com/heartrev is an example. The foreword of the book is by Ed Young Jr. I will keep this book for a long time as a reminder to recharge and revisit the idea of leading with your heart. In fact I didn't want it to end in some ways. The chapter on Revolutionizing Your Beliefs is particularly intelligent and discusses the difference between living religiously and having a relationship with Jesus. I love that I can extrapolate from that whole chapter what I need to illustrate even in my own life the power of negativity to drag you down and zap energy and the opposite and empowering nature of having an active relationship with your heart and your belief systems. It is more than just a semantic debate. It is the difference between passive religion and actively living your best life. Throughout the book there are numerous personal stories of people who felt unloved and people who were grieving giving themselves over to the heart revolution. Most of the examples are relevant and well used. But my only criticism is one example used in a chapter on Forgiveness that I found jarring. A family of children is sexually abused by an acquaintance. The repercussions of this are devastating for the entire family. However, the father of the children finds it in his heart to forgive the abuser. He confronts the person, a family friend and tells him he has to apologize, essentially. As a parent I find that to be really hard to believe, and I think the example will lose some readers. Aside from that poor example there is a lot here to like. Sergio De La Mora is smart and savvy and his passion is infectious and young enough to not yet come off jaded or overpackaged.

Thriftymommastips ranks this one a $$$$ out of $$$$$
The Heart Revolution by Sergio De La Mora, 2011, Baker Publishing Group, $17.99 US, Non Fiction, Christian Life, 278 pages.

Jodi Picoult Sings You Home and a Surprise #giveaway

2011-04-05T10:17:00.000-07:00

Anyone who knows anything about me at all is fully aware of how much I love Jodi Picoult's novels. She is one of my favourite authors and the launch of a new book is always an occasion to celebrate. When twitter pal and fellow book lover Wanda over at @YMCBookalicious asked if I'd like to participate in a Simon and Schuster twitter book club party I was wholeheartedly enthusiastic. Thanks Wanda! Anyways on to the review. Sing You Home is ultimately a book about love and family and the many different forms that takes. It has all the traditional Jodi Picoult elements: strong characters, ripped from the headlines type of plots, a court case, some grand philosphical battles, this time between church and state, gay rights, procreation as biology versus choice, as well as a small rumination on when life actually begins and a whole mashup of themes that drive you headlong towards the end of the book. Sing You Home also has a couple of surprises which I will not give away so I save the good stuff for you. The main character is Zoe Baxter, a music therapist, married with a family on the way. But issues of infertility, told with heartwrenching and great dramatic detail, drive larger rifts between husband and wife until they are no longer even wanting the same life goals. Picoult handles the infertility theme here with amazing grace and such emotion that let's just say a couple of us in the recent on line book club revealed that we probably shouldn't have been reading this book on the treadmill at the gym. I was not actually expecting a court case in this one and my chief complaint here is that the court battles in her books - although always well told - are predictable. I would love to see the next book happen entirely without relying on that as a plot. Zoe and Max inevitably end up living apart. Max, a slightly two-dimensional character and a recovering alcoholic, revisits his old wounds until he moves in with his zealous and wealthy older brother, also oddly struggling with infertility issues. Sing You Home comes with an interesting and creative supplement to the book, a CD of songs that act like a soundtrack to the book. The CD is folksy and peformed by Ellen Wilber. It is appropriate and clever given that the main character makes her living out of music. In the scenes where Zoe is using music as a breakthrough bridge between people who are grieving, or struggling in some way, and herself the therapist it is intriguing and educational to see how music can be used to reach remote corners of people's hearts. There might have been a bit more detail or explanation woven in here because it is a unique and compelling vocation for a main character. Picoult is the author of 18 books. Many, like House Rules, Nineteen Minutes and My Sister's Keeper, have been runaway best-sellers.

Sing You Home, by Jodi Picoult, Simon and Schuster Canada, 2011, 466 pages, $28 US and $32 Canadian.

I give this one a $$$$ out of $$$$$.

I received this book for free from Simon and Schuster Canada. This in no way impact my opinion.

I also have a giveaway for you. One lucky reader will receive a copy of House Rules.
To enter: Mandatory You must do the first two steps. Twitter is optional.
Open to US and Canada. I will draw for the winner on April 14th with random.org.
1. Leave me a comment with your name and email so I can contact you.
2. Follow my blog with GFC (see side bar) or tell me that you already do so.
3. Extra entries if you follow @inkscrblr on twitter. (Two extras)

Scribbling Women Blog Tour and a Huge Giveaway

2011-03-29T04:47:00.000-07:00

The author Marthe Jocelyn, photo credit Tom Slaughter

Welcome to Day Two of the Scribbling Women Blog Tour. Scribbling Women: True Tales From Astonishing Lives is a series of stories about little known female authors who documented their lives and the trials, tribulations and triumphs along the way. There are several stories here that I found captivating. Some of these interesting women travelled the world, some escaped slavery, others were mainly homebodies. All were intriguing and help us gain insight into a period in history when women were less likely to be written about or acknowledged. Many of their stories are authentic and colourful, told through letters, this compilation will be historical in its own right as this dying artform continues to give way to technology.

Marthe Jocelyn is an award-winning author and illustrator of over 20 books. She was born in Toronto and now lives in Stratford, Ontario. Her novel Mable Riley won the first ever TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award. Her non fiction book A Home For Foundlings won wide critical acclaim. In 2009 she won the Vicki Metcalf award for body of work. In this new non fiction collection of women's stories, aimed at age 14 and up, there are many different women, many different personalities. Mary Hayden Russell, for instance, followed her husband and took her son on board a whaling ship in 1823 where they lived for more than a year. She noted their pursuit of whales and the challenges of life at sea. Harriet Ann Jacobs was a slave, remarkable because she was literate and she left her story for history. She wrote a book Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl in the time when slavery and literacy were so feared by most that laws were passed making it illegal to teach a slave to read or write. She assumed a pen name and recounted a brave life. Most of these mini biographical slices of life are compelling but most interesting to me was the snippet regarding Nellie Bly, perhaps the first ever female investigative journalist, who took on some incredible stories in her day, going under cover in a women's insane asylum to reveal the deplorable conditions.

Scribbling Women is part of Tundra Books blog tour and a giant giveaway also being hosted by author and publisher. This giveaway consists of 28 books. That's right. One lucky winner will be sent 28 books, the full range of author Marthe Jocelyn's writings. This contains toddler books right on upto young adult novels and all are sure to please. What a great collection! Take a peek here:

Scribbling Women: True Tales From Astonishing Lives, by Marthe Jocelyn, Tundra Books, Hardcover, 208 pages, age 14 and up, Canadian $21.99 and US $19.95.

Thriftymommastips review is $$$$ out of $$$$$ for the variety of stories within this book. I received a copy of the book in order to complete this review. This is no way impacts my opinion.

An Interview with the author: Thriftymomma was lucky enough to be able to interview the author for this blog tour. Here are the answers to my questions. A Big thank you to Marthe Jocelyn for taking the time to speak with my readers..

Q 1. How did you come to writing and illustrating as a career?

Marthe: I was a late bloomer as far as writing is concerned. I had a small toy design company in New York City, and also made children’s clothing. When I had my own kids, I began to make books just for them. I took a couple of writing classes and read a thousand books and slowly learned how to do it. Although I call myself a writer, I don’t quite think of myself as an illustrator just yet.

Q 2. For Scribbling Women you have such a variety of women in the book...how did you choose?

Marthe: Choosing the women to fit into the book was the biggest challenge and took me about a year of reading and mulling and writing and more reading... I still have a file full in case I get the chance to write More Scribbling Women.

Once someone had landed on my long list, I began to research and write about her as if I was using her. If the work faltered, it was usually a sign that she might not make the final cut – perhaps there wasn’t enough information about her that would appeal to children, maybe her writing had not been translated into English, or possibly I couldn’t sustain my own interest, let alone that of a young reader. So the ones who were left at the end, the eleven finalists, were the ones, as I say in my introduction, whose stories made me catch my breath.

Q 3. What motivates you to get out of bed every morning?

Marthe: Some mornings I don’t get out of bed. I slip down to the kitchen to make a cup of tea and then climb right back into bed to work. However, when I do get up? If it’s light and sunny, I want to go for a walk. If it’s snowing, I might go sledding. If it’s pouring rain, I think about making a living... which means work.

Q 4. What advice do you have for aspiring writers or illustrators?

My advice for aspiring writers is to read, read, read. Write for a few minutes a day, stop before you’ve run out of steam, and read some more. For illustrators, I’m not so clear, but I think the same advice applies. Look at pictures, draw something, and do it again the next day.

(I love these answers. Especially the some days I don't get out of bed one. Ha! That's what I am doing wrong! I need more time in bed to become a successful author like Marthe!)

Giveaway:
To WIN: Enter to win a full collection of 28 Marthe Jocelyn books by leaving a comment on this post.That's right just leave me a comment here at thriftymommasbrainfood. Tell me why you want to win or what you learned from this post or any old thing pertaining to books.
Rules: Entrants can enter across all of the blogs taking part in this Scribbling Women blog tour. You can enter a total of 30 times if you enter on each blog taking part in the tour. The contest starts Monday, March 28th, 2011 and closes Sunday, April 10, 2011 at 11: 49 p.m. EST. One winner will be selected from all the entries