Books Released This Month - December 2012

An End to All Things by Jared Yates Sexton
Short Stories
21 December 2012
A collection of short stories about post-9/11 Midwesterners in the face of unemployment and uncertainty.

A Bit of Difference by Sefi Atta
Fiction
17 December 2012
When her job takes her back to her home country of Nigeria, a  young woman observes drastic changes in her family and the urban landscape of her home.

Tempestuous by Kim Askew and Amy Helmes
Young Adult Fiction
18 December 2012
In this retelling of Shakespeare's The Tempest, "it girl" Miranda Prospero finds herself handcuffed to loner Caleb after a storm shuts down the mall where she works, locking her and the shopaholics inside.

Finding Claire Fletcher by Lisa Regan
Thriller
6 December 2012
The morning after a romantic evening with a young woman, a detective discovers that the woman, who left a mysterious note before leaving in the morning, may be the girl who was kidnapped right from her front yard ten years earlier.

Books I Read This Month - November 2012

I had a hectically busy month! Hardly any time to read! Here are the books I read this month...

Lonely Planets: The Natural Philosophy of Alien Life by David Grinspoon

I read this 1) for the purposes of research for my novel and 2) because I am extremely interested in the concept of extraterrestrial life. This book explores the history, science, and cultural aspects of the belief in and search for life on other planets. Very entertaining and informative, but I think it focused way too much on our solar system, particularly on Mars and Venus. I was surprised at how much of the science I already knew. This is a great book for those who want an analysis of the possibilities of extraterrestrial life from the perspective of a true scientist, but written in an entertaining and non-jargon-filled way.

BOOKS I REVIEWED THIS MONTH

As It Is on Earth by Peter M. Wheelwright

The Parallel Conspiracy by Richard Paul Lori

Phoebe and the Ghost of Chagall by Jill Koenigsdorf

Phoebe and the Ghost of Chagall by Jill Koenigsdorf

Divorced and having just turned forty, Phoebe has begun to feel jaded, wasting her artistic potential designing bottle labels for a winery in California, but when the ghost of twentieth-century artist Marc Chagall appears to her and influences her paintings, a fantastical new adventure begins. Chagall convinces Phoebe to take a vacation in Paris, where one of his long-lost paintings is being delivered to an art collector by a thief. There, Phoebe meets a handsome businessman named Ray, two playful sister witches, and the old woman who had stumbled upon the missing painting during World War II. At times Charlie Chaplain-esque in its humor and action and at other times melancholy in its portrayal of the loneliness and solitude of artists and their art, Phoebe and the Ghost of Chagall is an intriguing and original, yet predictable read.

Multiple characters introduced quite early in the book may befuddle the reader, but the plot soon smooths out after a few chapters; however, though every characters’ motivation is apparent and personality consistent, there are far too many characters for the reader to grow fond of any one in particular. It may be easy to root for protagonist Phoebe to get the painting away from the art thief, to end up with Ray, and to return to her art career, but the roles of the sister witches and of the pivotal old woman, Bernadette, are not quite fully realized until close to the end of the novel. The purpose of the witches’ powers is not apparent and even Chagall himself, in ghost form, serves mostly as a deus ex machine for Phoebe; overall, the supernatural elements do not add much to the story.

The strength of this novel, though, is in Koenigsdorf’s writing style. She provides a rich atmosphere of Phoebe’s garden and summertime Paris, and the dialogue brings great personality to many of the characters. This is a fun read for fans of contemporary novels, especially those who enjoy subtle supernatural, mystery, and romantic elements.