The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend

Title: The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend
Author: Katarina Bivald
Genre: romance, literary fiction, women's fiction


The Readers of Broken Wheel is a delight! Amy Harris and Sara Linqvist are pen pals/book pals; after Sara is laid off from her bookstore job in Sweden Amy invites her for an extended visit to Iowa. Amy had painted a Norman Rockwell-esque portrait of Broken Wheel, Iowa to Sara: eccentric characters, town gossip, tragedy, etc. When Sara arrives she finds out that Amy has died and that the town is on the verge of dying too. Amy Harris was a respected citizen of Broken Wheel so the townspeople decide to take care of Sara and they let her stay in Amy's house free of charge. In fact, they let her do everything free of charge: meals at the diner, groceries, etc. Sara decides to repay their kindness with a bookshop. She stocks the bookshop with Amy's books and vows to find a book for everyone in the town. Broken Wheel is not a literary town (there is no library!) so Sara is looked upon as a strange European. People come into the bookshop to check out the "tourist" and eventually their lives change in small but significant ways. The town also changes Sara. Sara was used to living life vicariously through books. Ironically, she begins to live in a tiny town in Iowa!
** This book was received as an Advanced Reader Copy digital e-galley from Netgalley.com**

Title: The Hundred-Foot Journey
Author: Richard C. Morais
Genre: books to movies, food, cooking, immigrant fiction

The Hundred-Foot Journey had been on my "movies to watch" list since it debuted in theaters last year. I finally watched it last month in order to earn some extra credit for my Food and Culture class. After learning that it was based off a book, I, of course, had to read it.

This is one of the rare occasions where the movie is better than the book! The move is charming, delightful, bright and colorful and gives the viewer a craving for Indian food at the end. The book is more somber. The pacing of the book is much slower than the movie, especially the first five chapters. In the book, Hassan's character starts out as a bit crude and rough around the edges and his job as the cook in the family's restaurant was by accident. In the movie he is portrayed in a more sentimental light with the natural cooking gift that was guided by his mother since he was a small child. The main characters in the book and the movie are the same but the plots points differ considerably. It wasn't a terrible book but I was expecting it to be more uplifting.

Title: Voyager
Author: Diana Gabaldon
Genre: historical fiction, romance, time travel, fantasy, books to TV


Aahhh, another semester is over and I have a few weeks of fun reading ahead of me. Diana Gabaldon's books are waaayyyy too addictive to read during the school year when I need to be focusing on homework and research papers so her books are always a delicious treat to me at the end of a stressful and busy semester. Her books are also difficult to categorize: they are a blend of historical fiction, romance (not too much!), time travel and fantasy. They are also hard to talk about with others without giving away major spoilers....


SPOILERS BELOW! YOU'VE BEEN WARNED!!!
In this third installment in the Outlander series we get to see how Jamie deals with the aftermath of not dying at Culloden (not well at first). His life is spared by an English commander and he is sent on his way back to Lallybroch. Meanwhile, back in 1968 Claire, Brianna, and Roger follow the paper trail to find out what happened to Jamie after the failed Stuart Restoration. Soon Claire makes the momentous decision to go back to Jamie and she finds him... and discovers a lot of "surprises" not mentioned in the historical record: smuggling, sedition, an illegitimate son, a loveless marriage, etc. Of course Jamie and Claire are thrust into one adventure after another as they venture across the Atlantic Ocean to rescue Jamie's nephew: pirates, plague ships, hurricanes, slave revolts, etc. Oh, and the best part? The connection between the kidnapping and an old "nemesis."

Like Water for Chocolate

Title: Like Water for Chocolate
Author: Laura Esquivel
Genre: Hispanic literature, cookbooks, romance, magical realism

I had heard for years that this was an excellent book along with its movie adaptation although I had no idea what the storyline was about. I finally watched the movie a few weeks ago for an extra credit opportunity for my Food and Culture class. I really struggled with how to tie this movie into our class discussions and readings and after reading the book, I think my difficulty was due to the fact that it's hard to define the genre of this book. It has elements of magical realism interspersed with recipes, romance, and family drama sprinkled with tiny bits of Mexican history and culture.

2015 Georgia Literary Festival: Part 2

Joe Davich from the Georgia Center for the Book introducing Terry Kay
Photo courtesy of Jeska Clark

Terry Kay speaks to a packed house
Photo courtesy of Jeska Clark

The day was packed with panels featuring authors of various genres from all over the Peach State: Susan Boyer, Kim Boykin, Karen White, Christine Deriso, Kami Kinard, Becky Albertalli, Ron Smith, Mary Boyle, Gould Hagler, Carolyn Newton Curry, Ann Hite, Tom Mack, Perry Smith, Don Rhodes, Susan Crawford, Jim Grimsley, Allen Gee, Cindy McMahon, Ravi Howard, Bernie Schein, Jessica Handler, Steve Uhles, Jenny Wright, Danielle Wong Moores, Brian Panowich, Eric Morris, Colleen Oakley, Linda Lee Harper, Laurel Blossom, Ed Wilson, Lynn Cullen, Tom Turner, Bill Harper, Catherine Adams, and Theresa Davis!

Georgia's Historic Places panel. From Left to Right: Moderator Susan Mucha, F. Martin Harmon, First Lady of Georgia Sandra Deal, Jennifer Dickey, Catherine Lewis
Photo courtesy of Jeska Clark

Personal Stories: Memoirs and Journals panel (Turner Simkins, Jonathan Barrett, Tom Robertson, and moderator Jane Blanchard)
Photo courtesy of Jeska Clark

 

Catherine Lewis, Jennifer Dickey, First Lady of Georgia Sandra Deal, and Jonathan Barrett at the authors' signing table
Photo courtesy of Jeska Clark

Patti Callahan Henry at the authors' signing table
Photo courtesy of Jeska Clark

Joshilyn Jackson (moderated by Karin Gillespie)
Photo courtesy of Jeska Clark

Melissa Johnson moderating the Nathalie Dupree panel
Photo courtesy of The Augusta Chronicle

Jonathan Bryant talks about his book Dark Places of the Earth
Photo courtesy of The Augusta Chronicle

Augusta's best (and only) independent bookstore, The Book Tavern, set up a "pop up bookstore" so that festival attendees could purchase books to be signed by their favorite authors

Charmain Brackett signing a book for a fan

Theresa Davis, Lynn Cullen, and Jonathan Bryant at the authors' signing tables

Lots of literary goodies!

Book Tavern pop up store
Photo courtesy of Jeska Clark

Photo courtesy of Jeska Clark

Wait, there's more! Other vendors that joined us in celebrating the written word in Georgia include: Slumdog Writers, Augusta-Richmond County Public Library System, Marsha Maurer and Rose Chandler Johnson, UGA Press, South Carolina Academy of Authors, The Chattahoochee Reviews, USC Press, David Hanks, Barbara Turner, Georgia Writers Museum, Pilcrow and Dagger, Bryce Gibson and Charles Campbell, Jose Lucio, Florence Brown, VSU Master of Library Science and Information Science program, Augusta Literary Festival, Barbara Turner, and Broken Ink.

Our official sponsors were: The Georgia Center for the Book, GRU Pamplin College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, Porter Fleming Foundation, Red Wolf Marketing & Design, The Augusta Chronicle, Beasley Media Group, WRDW Channel 12, Strother's Printing, Augusta Authors Club, the Knox Foundation and various individual sponsors!

2015 Georgia Literary Festival: Part 1

Last Saturday was the culmination of 18 months of planning for the Georgia Literary Festival! After a weeklong prediction of 100% rain with thunderstorms and a last minute scramble to move all the outdoor vendors inside, the day turned out to be abnormally warm and muggy for November (the sun even came out for a little bit).

I was in charge of the Children's Stage; the festival committee had scheduled a variety of children's authors and entertainers to keep the kiddos busy during the festival:

Miranda Paul

Miranda Paul

Robyn Hood Black

Robyn Hood Black

Deron Hicks

Charmain Brackett

David Neches

Carol Eldredge from the Savannah River Ecology Lab with a snapping turtle

Ventriloquist Tawanna Kelly

Deron Hicks graciously signed my copy of Secrets of Shakespeare's Grave


The Children's Stage was also accompanied by a vendor section composed of children's and YA authors throughout the state of Georgia!

Jeannie Ingraham

Kim Edwards

Sissie Dale

Dr. Mattie Brown

Stacy Robets



Double Feature: Deron Hicks' Shakepeare Mysteries

Titles: Secrets of Shakespeare's Grave and Tower of the Five Orders
Author: Deron R. Hicks
Genre: middle grade fiction, mysteries, Georgia author, Georgia Literary Festival author, takes place in Georgia

Rick Riordan made Greek mythology relevant and relatable to kids and now Deron Hicks has done the same thing with William Shakespeare in his two books, The Secrets of Shakespeare's Grave and Tower of the Five Orders. Although Shakespeare is widely acknowledged as one of the best playwrights in the world, little is known about his personal life, but Deron Hicks turns the mysteries surrounding Shakespeare's life into two intriguing and fast paced middle grade mystery novels.

In Secrets we are introduced to Colophon Letterford and her family's prestigious publishing house. Alas, all is not financially well at Letterford and Sons. A mutiny is happening amongst the family members of the publishing house. Mulls Letterford must sign three new best selling authors to Letterford and Sons by midnight of December 24th or the greedy Treemont Letterford becomes the new head of Letterford and Sons. Colophon and her cousin Julian believe that a mysterious family portrait contains clues that will help save the family's business. The painting's clues take Colophon and Julian on a whirlwind scavenger hunt from Georgia to London.

In Tower, the family nemesis returns and threatens the newfound tranquility and financial stability of Letterford and Sons. This time clues from the life of Chrisopher Marlowe will lead Colophon and Julian on another fast-paced journey to save the Letterford family from ruin. Will they find the business-saving treasure in time?