ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE (AUGUST 2014)

Who doesn't love the Beatles? Author Candy Leonard is a first generation Beatle fan and her new release Beatleness is available now on Amazon. This detailed memoir is based on hours of interviews with first generation fans combined with a backdrop of the tumultuous times we experienced during their reign. Beatleness is for anyone who appreciates pop culture and history...Beatle fan or not...You wont be able to "Let It Be".

 BEATLENESS by Candy Leonard

Between 1964 and 1970 the Beatles presented a nonstop deluge of sounds, words, images, and ideas, transforming the childhood and adolescence of millions of baby boomers. Beatleness  shows how the band became a source of emotional, intellectual, aesthetic, and spiritual nurturance in fans’ lives, creating a relationship that was historically unique. Looking at that relationship against the backdrop of the sexual revolution, the Vietnam War, political assassinations, and other events of those tumultuous years, the book critically examines the often-heard assertion that the Beatles “changed everything” and shows how—through the interplay between the group, the fans, and the culture—that change came about.

A generational memoir and cultural history based on hundreds of hours of in-depth interviews with first-generation fans, Beatleness allows readers to experience—or re-experience—what it was like to be a young person during those transformative years.  Not only for hard core fans, Beatleness will appeal to anyone interested in American history, pop music, and the power of popular culture.

 For more information about the book, including excerpts and early reviews, go to Beatleness.com 

About the Author

Candy Leonard is a sociologist with a background in qualitative research, child development, popular culture, and media studies. She is also a first-generation Beatle fan, intimately familiar with their entire body of work, biography, commentary, and fan culture, and has written and lectured on the Beatles. She lives in Cambridge, MA.

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REMEMBER ME LIKE THIS (JULY 2014)

Nancy B is a blog reader and a college classmate. She and her husband are members of several book groups and are discerning readers. I recently received the following email;

"Our condo association book club just read and discussed “ Remember Me Like This” by Bret Anthony Johnston. It’s not an” enjoyable" read because of the subject matter. There is a feeling of tension throughout the novel.  The consensus  was that this novel was written masterfully, however,  this is not a book for the reader who is expecting the perfect ending. This author has a remarkable future ahead."

REMEMBER ME LIKE THIS by Bret Anthony Johnston

Four years after he disappeared, 16-year-old Justin Campbell is miraculously returned to his family after a flea-market vendor recognizes him from the ubiquitous missing-child posters that paper the town of Corpus Christi, Texas. In the years since he was kidnapped by a violent pedophile, his shattered family members have each found solitary ways of coping with his absence. His father, Eric, is involved in an extramarital affair; his mom, Laura, has spent hours volunteering at Marine Lab, caring for sick dolphins; and his brother, Griff, has isolated himself from friends, spending all his time skateboarding in the cracked pool of the half-razed Teepee Motel. They are stunned and overjoyed at Justin’s return, but his reappearance also reveals the fragility of their wounded family at a time when they need all of their strength to help ease Justin’s reentry. 

Debut novelist Johnston, a 5 under 35 honoree from the National Book Foundation and director of the creative-writing program at Harvard, has crafted a sensitive and frequently suspenseful portrait of a family struggling to heal in the aftermath of great trauma. --Joanne Wilkinson

Author Info

http://www.bretanthonyjohnston.com
 

To Order

Click on the Amazon Search Box in the Sidebar. All profits go to charity

VENTING (JULY 2014)

So disappointed in THE ARSONIST by Sue Miller. I am halfway through and feel like I'm reading a script for Lifetime TV. (No offense, Lifetime, I need you sometimes.)  As a result, I have resorted to reading MORALITY PLAY by Barry Unsworth.

 MORALITY PLAY is my book group's selection and a Booker Prize contender. If my close friend, who is a thoughtful and intelligent reader wasn't leading the discussion of Morality Play, that book would be on my NTBR list (Not to be Read List)...So between the two books, I'm not happy.

Hopefully upon completion of one, I'll find some redeeming features..probably MORALITY PLAY, since a group discussion usually stimulates a better understanding and appreciation.  Keep tuned....

LOOKING FOR A THRILL... (July 2014)

 A stolen masterpiece by Caravaggio goes missing in #1 New York Times author Daniel Silva’s latest action-packed tale of high stakes and international intrigue. THE HEIST, Silva's latest thriller is sure to hold your interest... Ready for some thrills? This is it.....

THE HEIST by Daniel Silva

Legendary spy and art restorer Gabriel Allon is in Venice repairing an altarpiece by Veronese when he receives an urgent summons from the Italian police. The eccentric London art dealer Julian Isherwood has stumbled upon a chilling murder scene in Lake Como, and is being held as a suspect. To save his friend, Gabriel must track down the real killers and then perform one simple task: find the most famous missing painting in the world. 

Master novelist Daniel Silva has thrilled readers with 16 thoughtful and gripping spy novels featuring a diverse cast of compelling characters and ingenious plots that have taken them around the globe and back --- from the United States to Europe, Russia to the Middle East. His brilliant creation, Gabriel Allon --- art restorer, assassin, spy --- has joined the pantheon of great fictional secret agents, including George Smiley, Jack Ryan, Jason Bourne and Simon Templar.

Following the success of his smash hit THE ENGLISH GIRL, Daniel Silva returns with another powerhouse of a novel that showcases his outstanding skill and brilliant imagination, and is sure to be a must read for both his multitudes of fans and growing legions of converts.

BUY THE HEIST IMMEDIATELY...CLICK ON THE AMAZON SEARCH BOX IN THE SIDEBAR.

NEW RELEASE SPOTLIGHT (JULY 2014)

SISTERS OF TREASON by Elizabeth Fremantle

Several blog readers contacted me in regard to this new release in historical fiction. Bookreporter.com featured it in their "one to watch" column...reviews have been positive, the Tudors are always turbulent...sounds like a great historical ride. Early in Mary Tudor’s turbulent reign, Lady Catherine and Lady Mary Grey are reeling after the brutal execution of their elder 17-year-old sister, Lady Jane Grey, and the succession is by no means stable. In SISTERS OF TREASON, Elizabeth Fremantle brings these young women to life in a spellbinding Tudor tale of love and politics. Neither sister is well suited to a dangerous life at court. Flirtatious Lady Catherine, thought to be the true heir, cannot control her compulsion to love and be loved. Her sister, clever Lady Mary, has a crooked spine and a tiny stature in an age when physical perfection equates to goodness --- and both girls have inherited the Tudor blood that is more curse than blessing. For either girl to marry without royal permission would be a potentially fatal political act. It is the royal portrait painter, Levina Teerlinc, who helps the girls survive these troubled times. She becomes their mentor and confidante, but when the Queen’s sister, the hot-headed Elizabeth, inherits the crown, life at court becomes increasingly treacherous for the surviving Grey sisters. Ultimately each young woman must decide how far she will go to defy her Queen, risk her life, and find the safety and love she longs for. For More Information: www.bookreporter.com To Order Click on the Amazon Search Box in the Sidebar. All Profits Go to Charity.

CALIFORNIA...HERE I COME..(JULY 2014)

CALIFORNIA by Edan Lepucki sounds like a welcome respite from all the summer reads. The review below tells it all, and if your up for a vision of the future, crisp prose, engaging and not so engaging characters, CALIFORNIA Is for you. 

"In her arresting debut novel, Edan Lepucki conjures a lush, intricate, deeply disturbing vision of the future, then masterfully exploits its dramatic possibilities." ---Jennifer Egan, author of A Visit from the Goon Squad

The world Cal and Frida have always known is gone, and they've left the crumbling city of Los Angeles far behind them. They now live in a shack in the wilderness, working side-by-side to make their days tolerable in the face of hardship and isolation. Mourning a past they can't reclaim, they seek solace in each other. But the tentative existence they've built for themselves is thrown into doubt when Frida finds out she's pregnant.

Terrified of the unknown and unsure of their ability to raise a child alone, Cal and Frida set out for the nearest settlement, a guarded and paranoid community with dark secrets. These people can offer them security, but Cal and Frida soon realize this community poses dangers of its own. In this unfamiliar world, where everything and everyone can be perceived as a threat, the couple must quickly decide whom to trust.

A gripping and provocative debut novel by a stunning new talent, California imagines a frighteningly realistic near future, in which clashes between mankind's dark nature and deep-seated resilience force us to question how far we will go to protect the ones we love.