This is a lovely blog with pictures of insects and explanation by the blogger, C.L. Goforth A.K.A. The Dragonfly Woman. It’s a fun blog to follow.
Monthly Archives: May 2014
Author Spotlight: Hilary Grossman
I’m spotlighting a new author. Hillary Grossman wrote a book about her relationship struggles with a man she loved but who would not commit. This is Hillary’s story:
It could have been a scene from a movie or a chick lit book. It was like fate orchestrated the encounter. I was twenty-seven years old when I met him, the man of my dreams. He was everything I could wish for. He was smart, funny, successful, an amazing cook, and he lived in a beautiful home on the beach! I was so happy, initially. But soon I learned there was a problem. A big problem.
He was beyond commitment-phobic. Forget about not wanting to get married, he barely wanted to have a relationship….
Call me naive or call me stupid, I didn’t let this bother me. It may have something to do with the fact that I was extremely familiar with commitment-phobic men. You see, my dad was one too! Not only did he live next-door to my mother, he dated my mom for close to seven years before he came to his senses and realized he couldn’t live without her…. Her breaking up with him may or may not have had something to do with that decision but I digress….
Back to my relationship….
Weeks became months and months became years. I continued to date him. I was content to let nature take it’s course. I didn’t pester him about taking our relationship to the next level. But then again, I didn’t have to. His friends and family were taking care of the dirty work for me. And some of the stunts they pulled were doozies – including throwing an impromptu faux engagement party! Who am I fooling? I had multiple faux engagement parties. That carat kept being dangled.
There was so much drama, I decided to write a book, DANGLED CARAT, about it…
Hilary Grossman dated a guy so commitment-phobic that she was able to write a book about their relationship. She is currently the CFO of a beverage alcohol importer and lives on Long Island.
Dangled Carat is available on Amazon 
http://www.amazon.com/Dangled-Carat-Hilary-Grossman-ebook/dp/B00F55HITQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1399751888&sr=8-1&keywords=dangled+carat and Barnes & Noble http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dangled-carat-hilary-grossman/1117017818?ean=9780615860350
You can connect with Hilary on her blog http://www.feelingbeachie.com on Twitter @feelingbeachie or on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pages/Hilary-Grossman-Author/490726971020296
Support Your Local Indie Store
This is a note about independent book stores otherwise known as: Indie Book Stores. These stores have flourished recently with news articles about them, and a new surge of folks wanting to “buy local”. Despite the big box books stores, and mega-mouth-(that’s the name of a shark, too)-Amazon, indie bookstores are getting by. I predict they will do more than get by in the future.
A lot of the big-box book stores have bitten the proverbial dust with Barnes and Noble struggling to stay open all over the country. There are probably many reasons for this. One reason I believe B & N is struggling now is because I’m not sure most of the B & N’s have plans in place for coping with Amazon’s cut price sales tactics. I’ve heard it said that Amazon will continue to slash their prices on books until its competitors are gone and then they will raise prices. I don’t know, seems alarmist.
Some Barnes and Nobles do good things like run specials and encourage local authors, such as myself, to set up book signings in their stores. I say some. Apparently there are B & N stores that just don’t get it. Barnes & Nobles are often autonomous machines, run by machinist managers who perhaps don’t have a pulse on their local community. My local Barnes & Nobles is not one of these. The manager there is always looking for local authors to give presentations and signings. She is at present setting up a “meet & greet” for local authors. The Barnes & Nobles in Pasadena employs one of the most amazing people in the world. Shawna (the Zombie Queen) Stringer is a champion for writers. Kudos, Shawna!
This past week I had my first official book signing at a book store. River Oaks Bookstore has been in continuous business for 35 years. Jeanne Jard is one of the most knowledgeable book people around. If you walk into River Oaks Bookstore you’ll see cushiony couches and cookies. If you get there between 5 and 7 in the evening there is wine available. And look at all the books!! The store is classy, timeless, and has just the right touch of southern hospitality. Plus, if you go now you can get a signed copy of my book Deadly Thyme. It’s right there for you! (buy it. you know you want to)
My book signing was a huge success. I sold out of The Dry within the first hour and I have very few copies of Deadly Thyme left. That’s a good thing, no, that’s a fantastic thing! Go NOW and pick up a copy for you or for that hard-to-shop-for relative who just loves British murder mysteries.
A Review: The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
If you are a new writer please don’t think you could get away with 775 pages. Trust me, you can hardly get away with 458 pages.
A lot has been said about The Goldfinch. I don’t expect I will break any new ground here but I spend a lot of time with this book so I’m writing a review.
If I were to compare the style of this story I would say it falls between Charles Dickens’ Bleak House and J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye. Although I was picturing “Rizo” from Urban Cowboy as I’m reading the book, which is told in first person by Theo Decker as an older man, relaying his childhood trauma of being in the Metropolitan museum when it was blown up, living with an odd, rich family, and his subsequent disturbing life.
Like with any Charles Dickens book I was hooked by page 75. After my initial shock wore off that the Metropolitan Museum of Art was bombed (This is not much of a spoiler since this has been much talked about since the book came out.) I was intrigued by the boy’s plight. His anguish and reaction in this section of the novel was truly well-written. Bravo.
However, by page 413 I did begin to wonder why the bombing wasn’t made more out of in the book. Even though we are in the viewpoint of a character wrapped up in his own worries, I think there should be more of a deal made of the Met’s bombing in the news (in the book). By page 500 we do see some news about the painting, so that helped in grounding this to reality a little better. The painting, The Goldfinch, seems to have been forgotten for large portions of the book. It’s hard to care about it when it isn’t mentioned for fifty pages at a time. It became more central to the story line towards the end of the book.
The author is a talented writer. I loved the sharp descriptions of each of the characters and even some of the very minor characters. I did have a difficult time liking Theo, the main character. The author may have been going for realistic but we don’t necessarily love watching the depressing twists and repetitive turns of real life. At the end of the book Theo says that he wrote what he did because he was trying to figure things out through writing them down, but came to the conclusion that life is what it is. It wasn’t a satisfactory ending. Would I recommend it? There are too many other fine stories available to spend so much time on this one.
A Plethora of Mothers
Last year I counted myself rich with mothers. I had my mother, my mother-in-law, and my daughter near me. We all celebrated mother’s day. It was like Christmas, sharing the celebration in different locations from Friday through Monday. That Friday my daughter’s church friends surprised her with a night out and a mother’s day gift. On Saturday we went to my mother-in-law’s for supper. Sunday we took gifts to my mother at the nursing home, though I think her favorite part was drinking coffee with us in the dining room while the great-granddaughter ran around squealing. That Monday, my daughter surprised me with a British cream tea in her apartment with all my friends! It was a surprise. And my daughter made scones and had clotted cream and lemon curd. It was delicious.
This year I don’t have my mother, but as I thought about all the mothers I had over my lifetime, I realize I’ve never been without. There were kind teachers, my amazing grandmother kept my brother and I quite often, my aunt, my Sunday school teachers, camp counselors, and my friends’ mothers when I would spend nearly the entire weekend at their homes. There were a always women encircling me who were iconic moms.
So this year I sent out mother’s day cards to other moms just to say – hey, thanks! And if you didn’t get a card from me. This is it. Thank you for being there for your child, their friends, and all those other kids.
Review: The Closing by Ken Oder
The author gave me a copy of this book for a fair and honest review.
At first The Closing seemed a lawyer-in-trouble-lands-into-a-mess-novel. The events in this book happen so naturally that I was lead to believe the story would unfold in a certain way.
But then it doesn’t.
Nate Abbit was a prosecuting attorney in Virginia until an unethical and illegal slip of judgment almost lands him in jail. The judge was a friend who insisted he get his life straight. Nate felt his life was over as he stepped down from his job. To make a living, the only cases he is now saddled with are cases defending the worst of the worst. The story begins with his first case in defending a reputably disgusting, incorrigible man in prison for murder. His lawyer died and it was discovered that he had not defended him correctly. So Nate must handle appeals.
Nate is an alcoholic struggling with “drying out”. The story takes place in the ‘60’s when alcoholism isn’t a disease but a problem that needs to “go away”. Everything in Nate’s personal life is falling apart. If he doesn’t stay away from the whiskey, and get his job done, he’ll lose forever the one thing he holds most dear, his wife.
The killer claims he is innocent and that he was framed by crooked judges, police, and lawyers. Nate doesn’t believe him, but then evidence suggests there might be some truth to his story. From beginning to end the case is not what it appears to be and Nate soon finds himself on the most wanted list of whoever is killing off witnesses.
I was constantly surprised at the twists in the story. I enjoy a well-crafted story that keeps me turning pages. I recommend it especially if you like John Grisham or Tom Clancy.
Happy Hour with the Author!
Announcing a book signing on May 15th at River Oaks Book Store at 3270 Westheimer. That’s across the street from Lamar High School and almost next door to the Baskin Robins Ice Cream store on the corner of River Oaks Blvd and Westheimer. There’s a light there, and St. Johns Episcopal Church.
I’m so thrilled to announce this. I am having a book club discussion of Deadly Thyme that morning at 11:00 at River Oaks Book Store and everyone is welcome to come and listen in, but then I’m having a book signing of Deadly Thyme at River Oaks Book Store between 5 and 7. Wine, and refreshments will be available. It’s happy hour with the author time! Yes, I’m going to be at River Oaks Book Store two times, possibly ALL DAY if you show up!!
Deadly Thyme takes place in a sleepy coastal village on the West coast of Cornwall, England. A girl disappears. The village is full of people keeping secrets. One secret is deadly!
Note the new cover of Deadly Thyme. I still have a few of the old postcards to give away so I’ll bring them and you can compare pictures.
11 Inspiring Quotes from the World’s Best Writers
I love quotes don’t you? So I’ve included here a link to a great blog post by Laura Pepper Wu as reposted by Catherine, Caffeinated.
11 Inspiring Quotes from the World’s Best Writers.
I also wanted to share what a BLAST I had at the Menilfest last Saturday! There must have been close to a thousand people come through during the day. Sometimes the crush of
people was so thick I could see through them. The Dry had great sales but I have to give credit where credit is due and that is to THE WASP! I had my wasp costume with me and I had it on a dress dummy. I’ve tweeted the pictures but I’ll post them here tomorrow.
Also on Sunday a long section of lower Westheimer near our house was blocked off to traffic so that people could walk on the road! It was called “
Walk Houston”. The organization will host another road block next month in the Heights.
We walked but not on the road. We walked over to see the tearing down of the old building on the corner of Montrose and Hawthorn. It was the multistory building where the famous Cody’s Rooftop Bar was a huge attraction for years. It was the only place in Houston where a live jazz band played all the time.
The weather was delightful here in Houston. If you were here I hope you got outside. If you live anywhere else. I’m Sorry.
Kidding! I hope you also had lovely weather and walks where you live, too.
Just Discovered a Great Writer: Susan Tarr
I just finished Susan Tarr’s novel Phenomena: the Lost and Forgotten 
Children.It isn’t many novels that bring me to tears as this one did. It will stay with me for some time, I imagine.
You hear about the washing girl’s stories of mistreatment as they had their illegitimate babies in Ireland, but Malcolm’s plight, and his story, and the stories about the other inmates in this New Zealand insane asylum were gripping and different. This is indeed a Phenomena that I have never heard of in the world before.
The “in and out” quality of Malcolm’s stories reflects the type of treatment he received that would rob him of his memory. He worked and worked each time to reclaim his memories and recall the stories he heard, reconciling them to stories he heard as he grew older. The past and present intertwined to make a beautiful basket of poignant memories.
I’d like to quote Malcolm at this point so that you can get a taste of Susan Tarr’s beautiful writing:
“Confusion muddled his thoughts with roiling patterns. And the wild sea at the bottom of the cliffs had never looked so inviting.
His mind turned to Julie who existed only in darkness. She told him her parents had disappeared while she was spending a day with her grandmother. Tea was eaten, it was night time, and still they never came for her. Her grandmother continued to care for her. It was years later when blind Julie was found by the neighbors, along with her dead grandmother.
Malcolm knew what happened to people like Julie. They were deposited, confused and bewildered, into the care of the mental hospitals for the unloved and unlovable, the uneducated and the unwanted – soon forgotten, feeding the insatiable appetite of the institution, placating the guilt of the knowing masses. Deposited there to be described, measured, weighed and quantified, labelled, segregated and finally, cattle-ised – as had happened to him.”
This story is a string of stories about the people at the “hospital” and surrounding buildings, some buildings like prisons for the more severe cases and some buildings were pleasant, half-way houses surrounded by gardens. These were reserved for those getting ready to transfer into a more normal life.
The saddest story was how Malcolm came to be at Seacliff Mental Hospital in the first place. Wow! I know horrible things happen but it’s hard to believe a parent would do this to their own child. Despite his bitterly sad history, Malcolm became a kind-hearted, upbeat man with a hope-filled future as a “regular” person.
How to Write a Great Author Blog AND Avoid Huge Ships
This is Kristen Lamb’s blog post and it’s great. But to tell you the truth, I fell out of my chair laughing at the banana slicer Amazon reviews. Really, really funny. But you can read it to find that out, too.
Rebecca Nolen 