This Perfectly Imperfect Life

Many of you know, and for those who don't, I moderate a Southern Lit Lovers group on Goodreads , which I created back in 2008. When it comes to 'genres within a genre,' Southern literature is a favorite near and dear to this Northeastern gals heart. (Something most of you know about me already as well!) Recently we read Long Man by Amy Greene . Like her debut novel Bloodroot , Long Man is transportive and engrossing. Amy's writing once again not only ensconced me in the souls of her characters, but in the soul of the places they live. I loved it! Last week I inadvertently turned our Southern Lit Lovers author chat with Amy into an interview. As both a reader and a writer, plus being a big fan of her writing, I couldn't help myself with all the Qs! Amy graciously gave me permission to share my part of the chat here with you when I asked. I hope you all enjoy my chat with Amy as much as I have! We often talk about 'genres within a genre' (for exam...

I have been biting my tongue for a couple of weeks now, until all of the details were worked out, but now it's time to let y'all in on a little ( BIG! ) secret:  Southern author Sarah Addison Allen is going to do a chat with my Southern Lit Lovers group on Goodreads *and* we have 3 ARC's of her upcoming novel, First Frost , to giveaway to 3 lucky members on November 4th!  I believe First Frost is a followup to her debut novel Garden Spells . Holy cow have I been excited to share this news!! For all of the info on the chat and giveaway rules, click here .  I can't thank Angie from Sarah's publisher enough for reaching out to me to set all of this up with Sarah and for sending me my own ARC of First Frost!!! Now, these sweet looking little candies came with my copy of First Frost and they were supposed to be a part of the photo above, but... Just before I set everything up, Mama kitty decided to make herself comfy and in the p...

Taken Sunday, July 7th, at our wee lakeside home. I always have such good intentions and big plans when it comes to my "Summer reading."  But, who am I kidding anymore?!  I take forever to find a book that I enjoy reading and still take more forever to finish reading it.  Not the case with the novel featured in this addition of Off The Shelf , which has been on my radar (aka to-read list) for a while now and is this month's Southern Lit Lovers group read & chat selection. The Lost Saints of Tennessee by Amy Franklin-Willis My (goodreads) rating: 5 of 5 stars From the Atlantic Monthly Press 2012 hardback edition:  (Spoilers Possible -->) "With enormous heart and dazzling agility, debut novelist Amy Franklin-Wills expertly mines the fault lines in one Southern working-class family. Driven by the soulful and intrepid voices of forty-two-year-old Ezekiel Cooper and his mother, Lillian, The Lost Saints Of Tennessee journeys from the 1940s to the 1980s ...

Greetings fellow Southern Lit Lovers : First off I'd like to welcome all of our new members!  Please drop by the "Come Sit For A Spell & Tell Us About Yourself" thread and say hello here .  No worries, we're a great bunch of folks who don't bite! Our May group read of Lee Smith's The Last Girls   is under way!  Join us here .  I've posted the thread for July group reads noms.  Please read my initial comment in the thread before you post your nom (I've added a new guideline).  Click here .  All past group reads are now archived in the Archived Group Reads folder here . Feel free to comment on any of the past group reads if you're reading one now! We've got lots to chat about in the following sections: Classic & Gothic Southern Lit Genres Within The Genre Set In The South, but... Buddy Reads & Favorite Authors We have a Midwest Authors & Book Discussions folder here .  What are you currently reading, just f...

Greetings fellow Southern Lit Lovers : First off I'd like to welcome all of our new members!  Please drop by the "Come Sit For A Spell & Tell Us About Yourself" thread and say hello here .  No worries, we're a great bunch of folks who don't bite! Our May group read of Julie Kibler 's Calling Me Home is under way!  Join us here . To get ahead of the game, I've posted the thread for June group reads noms.  Please read my initial comment in the thread before you post your nom (I've added a new guideline).  Click here . All past group reads are now archived in the Archived Group Reads folder here . Feel free to comment on any of the past group reads if you're reading one now! Are you on Twitter?  Well so is Southern Lit Lovers! Follow group happenings and other postings about Southern Lit & reading in general here . We've got lots to chat about in the following sections: Classic & Gothic Southern Lit Genres Within The ...

As many of you know, I love Southern Lit! I have a Southern Lit Lovers group on Goodreads and I recently created a Twitter for it as well.  Today I decided to share here the monthly Happenings Newsletter I send out to members when it's time to ask for new group read nominations as a way to get the newsletter visible in a more creative way than via a Goodreads message.  Perhaps it will even encourage a few of you to join me there! I invite everyone, member or not, to click and see what we're all about.   Southern Lit Lovers Happenings, April 2013 Newsletter It's that time again! And what time is that you ask? It's time for (May 2013) group read noms! Please read my initial post in the thread before posting your noms here . Our April read & chat of Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones is going on now!  Click here to join us. If you're new to Southern Lit Lovers, please click here to drop in and say "Hello!" Are you on Twitter?  Well s...

(Having wifi in the house again + a cold = 'command central' for today!) As most of you know already, (and for those of you who don't), I don't write traditional book reviews.  I share my reactions to a book, especially ones I've loved and enjoyed. In today's Off The Shelf , I'm sharing with you an incredible debut novel,  The Silence Of Bonaventure Arrow by Rita Leganski . My journey with Bonaventure began  here  in February and though I finished reading the novel last night, I believe the magic of Bonaventure is far from over! (**Spoilers Possible -->***) Harper Paperback (c)2012 released 2/26/13 synopsis: "Conceived in love and possibility, Bonaventure Arrow didn’t make a peep when he was born, and the doctor nearly took him for dead. No one knows Bonaventure's silence is filled with resonance - a miraculous gift of rarified hearing that encompasses the Universe of Every Single Sound. Growing up in the big house oh Christopher...

Miracle On I-40 by Curtiss Ann Matlock My rating: 5 of 5 stars Summary from Goodreads.com: "A journey home to the heart . . . Lacey Bryant is the ever-hopeful waitress at Gerald's Truckstop Restaurant in Albuquerque, New Mexico, a spot that is clear across the country from her home and family in North Carolina. It has been eleven years since Lacey, pregnant and unmarried, ran away from her angry father. Now she wants to go home again. A single mother struggling to raise her own children, she longs for her father's forgiveness, her mother's sweet embrace and to share with her aging parents the grandchildren they have never seen. Cooper is every inch a Scrooge who wants no part of traveling across country with two children, but he has promised to help out a friend, and so he loads Lacey and her brood into his eighteen-wheeler and carries them along with him on his trip down Interstate 40. As the miles roll under the big truck's wheels, it turns ...

Bloodroot by Amy Greene My rating: 4 of 5 stars Incredibly intense, often sad. Despite liking it a lot, sometimes I wanted to be done with it already but I couldn't read through this one quickly nor could I put it down. Amy's writing is simply beautiful and haunting. View all my reviews

The Improper Life of Bezellia Grove: A Novel by Susan Gregg Gilmore My rating: 4 of 5 stars A very good southern read. While it revisits some common themes found in southern fiction set in the 60's and at first I found myself thinking of The Divine Secret Of The Ya Ya Sisterhood, The Secret Life of Bees and Fannie Flagg, it surprised me by finding a voice and story all its' own. View all my reviews The Shack by William P. Young My rating: 1 of 5 stars I can appreciate the loss and re-discovery of faith after suffering a life altering tragedy. I can appreciate what the shack represents. I appreciate the idea of the book as a whole. What I don't appreciate is the writing, which I didn't like and found the tone be at times patronizing/condescending and even insulting. Overall, the story didn't work for me. The fact that “interest in making it into a move” is mentioned at least twice in the last pages at the back of the book as well as on the bo...