Unlikely Friendships - Jennifer S. Holland

I've seen reviews of this book everywhere, I've seen the book in bookstores, and every time I have to stop and allow myself a moment to feel all mushy and happy.  There is no need to analyze anything in this book, second-guess plots or pick apart characterization.  This book was put on this earth to raise spirits.  Period.

I was more than thrilled to be offered this book at SIBA by Workman Publishing.  It literally MADE MY DAY.  I carried the book around in my arms for a better part of the afternoon, touching it and opening it to random pages.  Instant stress relief.

In this book that is therapy applied to the page, there are 47 stories of unique pairings of animals.  They are friends, these little guys.  The hunters and the hunted snuggle together in the wild, like a leopard and a cow in India.  Or a snake and a hamster in Japan!  Can you imagine?  Others are just...bizarre, like an iguana and a cat, or a dog and a koi fish.  What on earth could a dog and a fish have in common, I have no idea, but they like to hang out apparently.      

Some come together temporarily for comfort and warmth, when they are rescued from a forest fire, or when a baby is separated from or abandoned by it's mother.  Like the Bobcat kitten and the fawn, or the mothering mutt and the red panda cubs.  Other friendships extend over years and years, for no real reason except for companionship.  Like the Asiatic black bear and the black cat, or the nearsighted deer and the poodle.  Honestly, I almost can't stand it, it is so flipping sweet.     

The book is something you can read casually, whenever you need a bright spark in your day.  Or you can consume it in a few hours like I did, and drive your family crazy by screaming "...and look at this one!  Awww, and this one!  Oh, and this one!".  It is a book you will keep out on your coffee table, ready and waiting to be picked up and loved by your friends and family.  I can give you my personal guarantee that there isn't a human on this earth that has half a heart that could resist this book.  Promise.

5 out of 5 stars    

SIBA and Bloggers

 As most of you know, I attended SIBA for the third year in a row this year.    I absolutely love the environment at this event...it is small and intimate.  Unlike some of the bigger trade shows, there are virtually no lines for anything, and it is likely that you will see your favorite author at a cocktail party or walking the floor talking to publishers.  For the last two years, we (the bloggers) have even had the privilege of taking a few out to dinner!  

The person in charge of all of this awesomeness is Wanda Jewell.  She is a firm supporter of bloggers, and has an established relationship with Kathy (Bermudaonion), who may have been the first blogger to attend SIBA and pave the way for the rest of us.  In the past, Wanda has invited all interested bloggers and waived our entrance fees, and has only asked that we support indie booksellers by linking to the SIBA Indie Bookstore Directory on our blogs.  She has been thrilled with the interaction between bloggers, authors and publishers.  But she still sees potential in what we have to offer, especially in expanding relationships between bloggers and bookstores.  She has a vision of the future when it comes to indies and bloggers that not only applies to SIBA bookstores, but indies everywhere, and I wanted to share it with you.

Why?  BECAUSE I WANT YOU ALL TO COME!  And so does Wanda.  Do you live in California, Michigan or New York?  No problem.  Wanda does not care about state boundaries.  She just wants indies to win.

So if you are interested in attending in the future (next year is in New Orleans, the following year in Daytona Beach), here is Wanda's vision:

*  Keep the SIBA indie link widget on our blogs, above the fold.  There should be no affiliation with big box stores anywhere on or near your blog.

*  Any time we are reviewing books that are SIBA OKRA picks, or is an "Author 'Round the South" and is having a promotional event, provide that information and a link.

*  If you have an indie bookstore in your local area, reach out and develop a relationship with them.  Encourage your local readers to support the store and their events, and if they have e-commerce, offer the option of purchasing books through them.  

If you are like the Orlando bloggers, we have two used SIBA bookstores, and the indie stores offering new books are quite a distance away.  Wanda feels that we can still support stores that are not necessarily within driving distance.  The Internet makes everyone a neighbor.

There are endless possibilities of how we can support our indies, and this is just a beginning.  

I know many of you already have a local bookstore you have partnered with.  I'd love some ideas on how else we can support each other.  But equally as important is the question...do you want to come to SIBA next year, and how can we get you there?     

   

SIBA Recap: Books I'm Excited About Part 2

Last Friday I shared a long list of books that I discovered at SIBA and that I am terribly excited about reading.  Well, there is more.  Check it out.







Comeback Love - Peter Golden:  This is one of those books that I might never have considered.  But Sarah Pekkanen blurbed it (love her) and I had dinner with Mr. Golden and he spend considerable time talking me down off my ledge about raising sons.  Plus look at that cover.  The story is about two lovers who came of age in the 1960's, and were separated by circumstance.  Decades later, they find each other again.  

The Blessed - Tonya Hurley:  Again, not sure I would have considered this one, but I heard Ms. Hurley speak on a panel.  And I got a good look at the cover, which took my breath away.  It is a YA novel, first of a trilogy, about three girls, down on their luck, who arrive at a hospital to find that they might be the modern version of martyred saints.









Astray - Emma Donahue (October 2012):  I think if you have read "Room", you probably would not hesitate to read this, no matter what the topic.  This book was a rep pick, and describes a journey from Puritan Massachusetts to revolutionary New Jersey, from antebellum Louisiana to a Toronto highway, lighting up four centuries of wanderings.





Cover of Snow - Jenny Milchman (January 2013):  Jenny was sitting at the same dinner table as Peter Golden, and completely charmed the bloggers with her sweet demeanor.  Plus she loves Tana French.  So.  when she told me it took her 11 years to write this literary mystery about a woman seeking answers to her husband's suicide. 

Blood Beneath My Feet:  The Journey of a Southern Death Investigator - Joseph Scott Morgan:  A memoir of a guy who has BEEN THERE.  And OMG there are pictures.  This is totally up my alley, I admit, but I won't be reading it anywhere near food.  This gentleman spoke on a panel, and said that someone declared this book a new genre.  I was pretty much sold that that point.









I'm curious if any of you have heard any of these?  The hardest part is going to be how to decide which to read first!

SIBA Recap: Books I'm Excited About Part 1

Like other trade shows, SIBA is a great place to learn about all the new, upcoming titles that are creating a buzz.  You have dinner with authors or you hear them talk on panels, and their stories strike a chord with you.  Another SIBA feature is a rapid-fire presentation from all the publishers reps about their personal favorites.  Then you also stop by the publisher booths, and something catches your eye.  It comes at you from all directions, and it is sometimes more stimulation than a book geek can handle.  I have really REALLY attempted to narrow my own "hot list" down to two posts.    
  

Indiscretion - Charles Dubow (February 2013):  This one was a rep pick from Harper Collins, set in the present day and follows a wealthy and glamorous husband and wife whose idyllic life is upended when they meet an impressionable and ambitious young woman.  It has been described as compelling, engrossing, fun, sexy and sophisticated.  When Dawn from Harper Collins was talking about it, she was flushed!

The Longest Race - Ed Ayres (October 2012):  I'm always looking for inspiration to run just one more mile, and when I stopped by Workman Publishing, this caught my eye.  It is written by a gentleman who has been running competitively for 55 consecutive years, and is his gripping account of an iconic ultra marathon, with insights about running and its connection to human endurance.  

Out of the Easy - Ruta Sepetys (February 2013):  I didn't even need to know what this book was about.  Just having read Sepetys' "Between Shades of Grey" (NOT to be confused with the smarmy trashy crap with a similar name) was enough.  Still, just so you know, this one takes place in 1950, and is about a 17 year-old daughter of a New Orleans hooker who wants to leave the life behind but gets drawn into a murder investigation.

Walking the Amazon - Ed Stafford:  This one was a rep pick by Penguin.  It is an account of the first man to ever walk the entire length of the Amazon river.  It took him 860 days, and required him to outwit dangerous animals and machete-wielding indigenous people, as well as negotiate injuries, weather and his own fears and doubts.

People Who Eat Darkness - Richard Lloyd Parry:  This was a rep pick as well, and is true crime, my favorite!  It was compared to "In Cold Blood" and was described as dark and unputdownable.  It is a story about a 21 year-old woman who stepped out into the vastness of Tokyo and disappeared forever.    

Spillover:  Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic - David Quammen (October 2012):  It helped that this was a rep pick from W.W. Norton, but I will never forget reading "The Hot Zone".  This book explores the horrifying truths about diseases that spread from animals to humans.  Sleepless nights ahoy!










Reconstructing Amelia - Kimberly McCreight (April 2013):  Sorry, I couldn't find cover art for this one.  It was a rep pick by Harper Collins that had everyone from this publisher a-flutter.  A working, harried single mother gets a call from her daughter's private school that she has been caught cheating.  But when she arrives at the school, she learns that in fact her daughter is dead because of a spontaneous suicide.  Devastated, the mother attempts to cope, until she receives an anonymous text saying "She didn't jump".  This one is described as a psychological page-turner, and compared to Tana French (CAREFUL!  Few compare!) and Jodi Picoult.



I realize that is a lot to lay on you in one post.  Stay tuned next Friday for more!