Sunday Salon: Happy 4th of July and a Vintage Book Find!

Wishing everyone a Happy 4th of July!

My son and I found a nice, new to us Indie bookstore recently called Appletree Books, it's a small, quant and cozy store but it doesn't have a website to link to. One review I found compared it to The Shop Around the Corner in the movie You've Got Mail. I found this small, blurry photo that gives you an idea of what the shop looks like.  It's in an older shopping district that was designed in the early 1900's and  has Tudor style shops that were supposedly designed to have the  feel of a miniature English style village.

Appletree Books mainly sells newer books but they have a small section in an upstairs nook with a few shelves of older, vintage books. My son enjoys old and vintage books and has acquired quite a collection already. It's probably a bit of an unusual hobby for an 11 year old boy but he appreciates the history of the books and thinks it's cool that they've been around a long time. My son was thrilled to find a copy of Red Fairy Book by Andrew Lang, a 1929 edition for only $2. It's not in the best condition but it has a nice fabric cover and beautiful drawings inside the book.

The store also had a bin of "free" books and my son and I each picked a book to take home. I was thrilled to find an advanced reading copy of  Anthropology of an American Girl by Hilary Thayer Hamann as it is on my wishlist. My son found a copy of  Dodger for Sale by Jordan Sonnenblick. It's always fun to find a new bookstore and book finds and especially in a quant independent bookstore.

Guess who's coming, y'all!!! Paula Deen's Savannah Style Virtual Book Tour

I had to share the news as I'm very excited for this Book Tour and I'm a fan of Paula Deen.  Redlady's Reading Room will be a host during the Paula Deen Book Tour sponsored by Pump Up Your Book promoting her newest book, Paula Deen's Savannah Style. Be sure to stop by on Thursday, August 5th.

Review & TLC Book Tour: The Lace Makers of Glenmara by Heather Barbieri

“You can always start again,” Kate Robinson’s mother once told her, “all it takes is a new thread.” Overwhelmed by heartbreak and loss, the struggling twenty-six-year-old fashion designer follows her mother’s advice and flees to her ancestral homeland of Ireland, hoping to break free of old patterns and reinvent herself.

My Thoughts:

In reading The Lace Makers of Glenmara we are taken along a journey with Kate through her travels in Ireland to the small seaside village of Glenmara. There in the beauty of Ireland she finds a wonderful community of women who have their own struggles and grief but find a way to deal with it through their friendship and lace making group. Kate is welcomed by most of the women in the group, although there are some concerns  that she is an outsider and not "one" of them. As they work together, the ladies of Glenmara teach Kate the art of lace making while Kate helps them to expand this beautiful craft in a way that touches each of the women's lives.

The story is mainly told through the narration of Kate but it does alternate to the perspectives of other characters in the novel which was quite effective. The characters are strong and interesting, some are quirky and mysterious. I found myself caring about each one and having strong feelings about the few characters that I wasn't as fond of. The beauty of Ireland is conveyed through the story and descriptions of the countryside, especially this small town of Glenmara.

There are twists and turns throughout the story that challenge the lace making group and force the ladies to examine their hearts and passions. There are a few wonderful men that stand out as well, a love interest for Kate and a father who stands up for his daughter and the women of Glenmara. This is a beautifully woven story of women, friendship, love and loss and how you can take sorrows and disappointments and turn them into something positive.

I am a fan of women's fiction and to add a beautiful background of Ireland and the art and craft of lace making to the mix makes The Lace Makers of Glenmara a wonderful novel. It's perfect for a summer read, it has charm and will provide a light and lovely escape to a beautiful place.

About the Author:

Heather Barbieri is half-Irish. Her paternal ancestors left counties Donegal and Tipperary after The Great Famine and worked in the coal mines of Eastern Pennsylvania before settling in Butte, Montana. Her impeccably dressed maternal grandmother was a descendant of a lady-in-waiting to Queen Victoria and instilled an avid interest in fashion in her granddaughters. Barbieri’s first novel, Snow in July (Soho Press), was selected as a Book Sense Pick, a Glamour magazine “Riveting Read,” and a Library Journal Notable First Novel. Before turning to writing fiction full-time, she was a magazine editor, journalist, and film critic. She lives in Seattle, Washington, with her husband and three children, and is currently working on her third novel.

*Connect with Heather on her website, and on Facebook.


Disclosure: Thanks to Harper Collins and TLC Book Tours for sending me a copy of this book to review. I am an Amazon and Indiebound associate.

Mailbox Monday ~ June 28, 2010

Mailbox Monday is a fun meme hosted by Marcia at The Printed Page. We share books that came into our house by mail.  I haven't posted a Mailbox Monday post for a few weeks and have gotten quite a few new books in the mail.  I'm still limiting the books that I'm accepting for review but I did receive a few books that were surprises.

Free to a Good Home by Eve Marie Mont a surprise from Penguin

Red Hook Road by Ayelet Waldman from Random House

The Lace Makers of Glenmara by Heather Barbieri from Harper Collins for

a TLC Book Tour on July 2nd

Sea Escape by Lynne Griffin from Simon & Schuster for

a TLC Book Tour on July 14th

Seven Year Switch by Claire Cook from Harper Collins for a

Pump Up Your Book Promotion Book Tour on July 26th

Infinite Days by Rebecca Maizel from St. Martin's Press

Every House Needs A Balcony by Rina Frank from Harper Collins

Review: God Never Blinks: 50 Life Lessons for Life's Little Detours by Regina Brett

Regina Brett is a local newspaper columnist and her column is one that I read most every Sunday. Her articles are always relevant, thought provoking and deal with issues that most everyone can relate to. When she turned 45, she wrote a column on the 45 lessons life taught her. She added five more when she turned 50. The result is this book, God Never Blinks: 50 Lessons for Life's Little Detours.  I listened to an audio book version read by the author. The book is written in a conversational style and tone which works well in listening to the book. Ms. Brett is brutally honest about her life experiences as a single mother, going back to college as an adult, marrying, and being diagnosed with breast cancer. She shares the lessons that life has taught her through these experiences and more.

These lessons are thoughtful, tender, funny, and honest. Many are common sense themes that most everyone knows but need to be gently reminded of. These lessons are ones that can apply to most everyone in a variety of life situations. Many of the lessons apply to Ms. Brett's faith which has been part of her journey in life. I wasn't expecting as much faith based information and for me it was a bit heavy at times. Although I do think that others may find this information helpful in their own spiritual journeys.

Each chapter was geared toward a life lesson which worked well as Ms. Brett shared a story related to real life events. Some of my favorites were "Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of now" and "Breathe. It calms the mind". This is the kind of book that you can go back to and read a chapter that may relate to a certain life experience. It can be used as a reference book of sorts or an inspirational and motivational tool for others. This book would make a wonderful gift for anyone from teens to the elderly. It would especially make a great graduation gift, a milestone birthday gift and may help someone who is dealing with a loss or grieving.

Listen to an excerpt from God Never Blinks, here.

Visit Regina Brett's website, here.


Disclosure: Thanks to Hachette for sending me a copy of the audio book for review. I am an Amazon associate and Indiebound associate.

Review: Girl In Translation by Jean Kwok

Most everyone is familiar with the saying "Don't judge a book by it's cover" but in the case of Girl In Translation and it's gorgeous cover art you should most definitely judge this book by it's cover. It's beautiful inside and out. I must admit I was drawn to this book by it's cover and that it was a coming-of- age story of a young girl that immigrates with her mother to the US from China. I love to read books about other cultures as my own family is from different cultural backgrounds. My grandparents immigrated from Poland and Russia and my mother immigrated to the US from Germany when she married my father.  To top it off, when I read that Jean Kwok's book Girl In Translation was "reminiscent of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn", which is my all time favorite book, I knew that it was a must read for me. It does have many similarities which is one of the many reasons that I enjoyed this book so much.

Kimberly and her mother leave Hong Kong after her father dies  to live in Brooklyn, New York. Her aunt, her mother's sister, sponsors them allowing them only to stay a few days in her clean and comfortable home. The aunt moves them into an uninhabitable place of squalor and puts them to work in her Chinese clothing sweatshop. Kimberly is 11 years old, an intelligent girl and learns English and succeeds academically in school but socially she is quite challenged. She is forced to lead a double life of sorts as a child in school and a child working in a sweatshop after school, evenings and weekends.

As a reader, we are told the story through Kimberly's eyes and voice as she grows older and through her experiences in the sweat shop, at school and beyond. She learns to translate the language between both English and Chinese and the two worlds they come from. I found myself connected to Kimberly as she expresses her impressions, experiences and those of her mother as she learns to pronounce words in English.  Both mother and daughter have such a strong bond, they are connected by their strength, love and determination to make the best of their situation. There is no giving up no matter what and they endure great hardships over the years.

I enjoyed seeing Kimberly grow as a young child into a teen and young woman fiercely protective of her mother who still struggled to learn the English language and worked so hard without complaints in the sweat shop. Kimberly tries to fit into the American way of life which has it's challenges as an immigrant and you get an understanding of how hard that can be. She develops a few friendships and a love for a factory boy that is not following the same path as she is.  The ending was perfectly fitting to the story and one that may be a surprise to some readers.

This is a book that will make you think and it did that for me, even after I finished the book. Which to me, is a sign of a great book. Reading Girl in Translation has made me aware on a deeper level, what it must be like to be an immigrant and come to a new country feeling like an outsider. Transitioning into a new way of life, learning a new language, fitting in, being accepted etc. I appreciated the novel even more when I read the background of Jean Kwok, on her website. Ms. Kwok shares that Girl in Translation is a work of fiction but many of the experiences were similar to her own life. I believe that this reality infused with fiction gives Girl in Translation strength and life. Ms. Kwok is a gifted writer and this is a fabulous debut novel. I look forward to more of her writing in the future and was thrilled to read on her website that she is already in the process of writing her next book. Girl in Translation is truly a beautiful novel and one that everyone should read, especially those who are interested in culturally based books and coming-of-age novels.

Disclosure: Thanks to the publisher, Penguin, for sending me an advanced reading copy for review. I am an amazon associate and Indiebound associate.