“Life is a Feast”

I am so happy that I got to read an excerpt of The Bird Sisters, a new novel coming out April 12th by Rebecca Rasmussen.  It is getting ALOT of buzz in book world.  It is clearly going to be a bestseller.  I’ve become friends with Rebecca and she is lovely.  It is a first novel and look what  Publisher’s Weekly has to say…

“Achingly authentic and almost completely character driven, the story of the sisters depicts the endlessly binding ties of family.”

Beth Hoffman, the uber talented author of Saving Cee Cee Honeycutt says of Rasmussen’s book, “The Bird Sisters is a unique, beautifully written, and heartbreaking story that explores the fierce bonds, wounds, and tender complexities of the human heart. Rebecca Rasmussen has crafted a magical debut.”

You can read the excerpt here: http://www.thebirdsisters.com/read-an-excerpt/.  I’ve already pre-ordered The Bird Sisters and will be excitedly watching my Kindle on April 12th to begin reading it.

Amaryllis in Blueberry

I was pleased to receive an advance copy of Amaryllis in Blueberry to review.  This book is by Christina Meldrum and will be released February 8, 2011.

This is a complicated book.  There are layers of stories between the characters.  It took me a few chapters to get into it but then it was  GRIPPING!  Yllis, short for Amaryllis, is the youngest of four sisters.  Each of her older sisters is named Mary- Mary Tessa, Mary Grace and Mary Catherine.  Each chapter is told from a different character’s vantage point.  Their mother, Seena, reminded me of the mother in Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood (loved that book).  Seena is a bit crazy, quoting Sappho and Greek mythology all of the time.  Dick, their father, is a devout Catholic, trying to understand his family.

The book is set both in Michigan and later in Africa.  I don’t want to spoil the story so I will say that Dick decides to take the family to Africa in order to escape a reality in Michigan that he doesn’t understand.  The Mary’s, Yllis and Seena all do not want to go to Africa but in the end, all go.  The story gets VERY involved with a priest, an African medicine man, African rituals and an old woman friend of the family in Michigan.  You have to be sharp to read this book to catch all of the nuances going on, and there are LOTS of nuances.

I predict that this book will become very popular as it is very well written and the story is captivating.   Thank you SO much to Christina Meldrum and her publisher for sending me the book to review.

Some of my favorite quotes in the book-

 “Life is a feast.” (I just love, love, love this quote so much that I had to put it in bold, italics.)

“People say joy is infectious, but that’s a myth.  It’s melancholy that’s infectious.  And sneaky.”

“You know you’ve got one life.  The next life?  That’s a crapshoot at best, as far as Tessa can tell.”

“When Grace is around Mama now, she feels like a footnote.”

 What are you reading and where are you going?