ReadingGrrls Paper Safari

Title:   Tea: A novel by Stacey D'Erasmo Publisher: Algonquin books of Chapel Hill 317 pages Genre: fiction This novel is currently out of print but you can find some used copies on amazon or at local used book stores.  Synopsis: D'Erasmo unspools the life of Isabel Gold in 3 distinct phases: a child of 8 who loses her troubled mother to suicide; a teen discovering she likes girls as much as pot and Joni Mitchell; and a 22-year-old scrambling to keep her bohemian dreams and her relationship with a cranky Greek girlfriend alive in Lower Manhattan. Review:  Tea is a very strange novel. Broken down in Morning, Afternoon and Evening it tells pieces of the life of Isabel Gold. The beginning of the book deals with her family, her strange, and depressed mother, her born again best friend who calls God on her shoe phone as they re-enact scenes from Get Smart and her realization that she is frightened that her mothers mood will wear off on her if she touches her. ...

Title:   Unraveling Anne by Laurel Saville Publisher: amazon encore 245 pages Genre: Memoir Borrowed for free from Amazon on my kindle as a Prime Member Synopsis:  In 1950s Los Angeles, Anne Ford was the epitome of the California golden girl, a former beauty queen and model-turned-fashion designer whose success and charm were legendary. So how is it possible that such a woman could die in squalor, an alcoholic street person brutally murdered in a burnt-out West Hollywood building? In searching for answers to the heartbreaking trajectory of her mother’s life, writer Laurel Saville plumbed the depths of Anne’s troubled past and her own eccentric childhood to untangle the truth of an exceptional, yet tragic, existence. What she discovered was a woman who was beautiful, well-educated, and talented—yet tormented by internal demons and no match for the hedonistic culture of Southern California in the 1960s and 70s. With unflinching honesty and stirring compassion, Sav...

Title:   Ill Will (Micky Knight Mystery) by J.M. Redmann Publisher: Bold Stroke Books 264 pages Genre: LGBT Mystery I received this as an advanced e-galley from netgalley.com Synopsis:  First, do no harm. But as New Orleans PI Micky Knight discovers, not every health care provider follows that dictum. She stumbles into a tangle of the true believers to the criminally callous, who use the suffering of others for their twisted ends. In a city slowly rebuilding after Katrina, one of the most devastated areas is health care, and the gaps in service are wide enough for the snake oil salesmen—and the snakes themselves—to crawl through. First, her investigation is driven by anger, but then it becomes personal as someone very close to Micky uses her cancer diagnosis to go where Micky cannot, into the heart of the evil where only the ill are allowed. Micky is her only lifeline out. Can Micky save her in time to get to the medical treatment she desperately needs to survive?...

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of  Should Be Reading . Anyone can play along! •  Grab your current read • Open to a random page • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page •  BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS!  ( make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others! ) •  Share the  title & author , too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers! My teaser Tuesday is from:  Unraveling Anne by Laurel Saville "How had the girl with the idyllic childhood steeped in optimism and opportunity of Southern California in the forties and fifties - model, artist, fashion designer, friend of famous artists, models, and actors - become a drunken, sodden, street person who was stabbed and strangled in a burnt out building, her clothes ragged, and her ancient one-eyed, short-legged littl...

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of  Should Be Reading . Anyone can play along! •  Grab your current read • Open to a random page • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page •  BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS!  ( make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others! ) •  Share the  title & author , too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers! My teaser Tuesday is from:  Ill Will (Micky Knight Mystery) by J.M. Redmann "You're Michele Knight, a little girl private dick who's poking about where she shouldn't. This is a message to you in person, in a way to make sure you'll remember.  He had one big burly hand on my shoulder, using his weight and strength to pin me against the building. My unhappy guess was that he was keeping his other arm free to make the messag...

Title: Crackly Bones by Steve Roach & Simon Schild Publisher:Amazon digital services 1895 kb Genre: Children Synopsis:  Three hundred years ago, an innocent man was accused of wizardry, and the lies of a child led to his murder at the hands of a frenzied mob. Tonight, he’s back for his revenge. The villagers are stirred into action when signs of Crackly Bones’ impending arrival are witnessed. Led by Jones, the owner of the public house, the people gather and agree to fight, a decision that will have devastating consequences for the entire village. Review: This was a strange, scary little book written in rhyming poetry.  I couldn't really see many of the drawings because they were too dark but maybe it looks different on the kindle fire. I don't know if I would read this to young children but it would be a great story to read around a camp fire. I don't know if its supposed to have a moral or not but for me it seems to say don't judge people based on rumo...

Title:   All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten by Robert Fulghum Publisher: Villard Books 196 Pages Genre: Inspiration Synopsis:  Fulghum engages us with musings on life, death, love, pain, joy, sorrow, and the best chicken-fried steak in the continental U.S.A. The little seed in the Styrofoam cup offers a reminder about our own mortality and the delicate nature of life . . . a spider who catches (and loses) a full-grown woman in its web one fine morning teaches us about surviving catastrophe . . . the love story of Jean-Francois Pilatre and his hot air balloon reminds us to be brave and unafraid to “fly” . . . life lessons hidden in the laundry pile . . . magical qualities found in a box of crayons . . . hide-and-seek vs. sardines—and how these games relate to the nature of God. Review: There is a new version of this book that was published in 2004 with 25 new essays.  While some people may find these short essays silly and a waste of time I thin...