Mailbox Monday, March 10,2009

Yes, I'm a little behind this week, I could rattle off a bunch of reasons, but I don't want to bore everyone with my drama. In any case, I am offering you my Mailbox Monday...just a little late this week. I hope you still care to know.


I posted this image of Mrs. Morton, the first female letter carrier delivering mail taken in 1917 to recognize Women's History Month. (provided by nypl.org.

Last week I received quite a few interesting books in the mailbox and many for children.

*Fragile Eternit by Melissa Marr
*Every Human Has Rights by National Geographic
*Salvos on Backwater by Erwin Wunderlich
*Daddy's Little Spy-Isabella by Isabella Rose
*Summer on Blossom Street by Debbie Macomber
*Sonata for Miriam by Linda Olsson
*The Kings and Queens of England by Ian Crofton...via my delivery
*Space Captain Smith by Toby Frost (IPG)
Children's Lit..............
~Princess Prissypants Wishes the World Pink by Ashley Putnam Evans(IPG)
~Ricky and Mia the Chicken gy Guido Van Genechten (IPG)
~I Need My Monster by Amanda Noll(IPG)
~The Horse Race based on a Chinese Classic Tale (IPG)
~Daddy Does the Cha Cha Cha by David Bedford and Bridget Strevens-Marzo(IPG)

I started a new column on Wednesday called Wednesday's Child where I am posting reviews of children's literature. If anyone would like to join this group please use my logo and sign up. I will have a statement you can add to your blog that I will post this week on Wednesday. The books can be from primary through young adult. Whatever you feel like posting. I hope you join me as our group Wednesday's Child grows.
Here is last week's post of Wednesday's Child to get an idea.

Sunday Salon, March 8, 2009

Daylight Savings..Did you all remember to Spring Forward? I hope everyone enjoyed the shorter time to rest last night. I would have done much better if my dogs were able to tell time and understand the time change. Did anyone feel like this?



I know for me it is never an easy transition, but the benefits are well worth it.
*I get an extra hour of daylight tonight and each night until I have to set my clocks back in the fall.
*I love that. According to the energy department, I will save money on electricity-always a good thing. Maybe I'll buy another book.
*I feel better having the sun's rays shining on me just a little bit more each day.
*I'm happy the warmer days of the year are beginning to wrap their arms around me.




This is a picture of the statue of Clio, the Goddess of History. Her clock reminds me of the time gone by, the time I have alive and how each day is precious time.


Clio, the Muse of History, stands in a winged chariot representing the passage of time and records events as they occur. The car rests on a marble globe on which signs of the Zodiac are carved in relief. The chariot wheel is the face of the clock; its works are by Simon Willard.
From: http://www.aoc.gov/cc/art/car_of_history.cfm



If you want to read a book about Daylight Saving Time, the book Seize the Daylight, The Curious and Contentious Story of Daylight Saving Time by David Prerau is a captivating and fun history lesson. The Seize the Daylight Website has more information.

After having a fire in my house this week and my garage door breaking with the car in it, I know timing is very important. As I look back, a little time saved my fur babies and I from a serious situation. I'm ok...just suffering the effects of smoke inhalation.

Vasily reminded me that I did read..actually quite a bit. I finished Little Women, Big Boy Rules and The Sacred Well. Of course everyone knows Little Women and it's always great to read a classic again. What classic have you re-read lately?

From the 19th century, I turned to the mercenaries in Iraq. Big Boy Rules by Steve Fainaru is contemporary non-fiction written by a reporter who witnessed carnage and the daily danger these hired men encountered. It is not for the faint of heart.

Then a historical fiction book I absolutely loved called, The Sacred Well by Antoinnette May. It was so passionate I cried. I will review BBR and The Sacred Well in a future post. My next read is The German by Paul Griner.

Have a great week everyone. Tell me how did you spend your precious time this week? Don't forget to leave a comment for the book giveaway.

Wednesday's Child-Poppy and Ereth by Avi

Wednesday's Child is going to be the day I review my tike to teen literature.This week I have a book by Avi, the sixth and final book in his Poppy series. This book is an awesome read-a-loud as my 3rd graders will tell you. It is written for grades 3-7 and about an age range of 8-12. It is sad to see the Poppy series end after so many wonderfully years. Avi's website is www.avi-writer.com

My Review

Harper Collins
211pp
978-0-06-111969-9x

Poppy and Ereth demonstrate once again Avi’s writing genius in his genre. His personified world is humanized through his artfully delivered dialogue. Fantasy overlaps non-fiction with his quick facts about animals written into the story text. Avi is a superb storyteller who will open doors to a new world if you acquiesce.


My students were saddened when they heard Poppy and Ereth, the latest book, would also be the final book in the delightfully sunny series by Avi. This last book centers around the relationship between Poppy, the deer mouse and Ereth the peevishly prickly porcupine. When Poppy takes an unexpected flight and can’t be found, an unsettled air takes over Dimwood Forest and her friends. Most unusual is the bizarre behavior of Ereth, who assumes a smiling face of fright, atypical of him, in the hopes of becoming more sociable.


Poppy and Ereth like others in the series, is uplifting and humorous with lessons of friendship, family, caring and love that will make you laugh, giggle and cry. With profuse sadness, I don’t want to say goodbye to this series. Perhaps the introduction of a certain new character, with a certain new home leaves room for a new series to come. Whatever Avi writes next, I know it will surprise and satisfy his audience.

Wisteria Leigh

Tuesday's Tablet-Debut Novel by M.F.Bloxam

Welcome to my first issue of Tuesday's Tablet. I will post reviews here that are the new releases, upcoming releases, debut novels and less familiar titles out on store bookshelves. Books falling below the rating scale will not be featured on this blog, rather in my Library Thing collection. I really like your comments, whether you have read the book or not. If you agree or disagree, please add your thoughts. Thanks for reading....Wisteria

The Night Battles

by M.F. Bloxam

A brief note about the author from the jacket of the book:
M.F. Bloxam has lived in Sicily and on both US coasts. She is the author of prize-winning short fiction and creative non-fiction. A background in anthropology and museum work informs her writing. She lives with her husband and two cats on New Hampshire's seacoast. This is her first novel."

My Review

The Night Battles by M.F. Bloxam
The Permanent Press
$28.00
260 pages,hc
ISBN1579621716

Reading The Night Battles, evokes dark forgotten memories from the past when monsters lived under beds and in closets. Psychologically awakening this book will stimulate your neurons to that time long ago when fantasy fogged reality.

Joan Severance, an anthropology professor at Brown University has reached an impasse in her career, her future in academia tenuous. Granted a sabbatical, she accepts a position in Valparuta, Sicily, to work as an archivist under the tutelage of Signor Chiesa. She soon becomes engrossed in her work, unearthing historical records. She begins reading about Piero Quagliata his life and then his untimely, unnatural death in 1552. Abruptly the files she sifts through lead no where, something is missing.

Joan becomes attracted to Chiesa. As their relationship deepens, she comes to know his horror with the night battles. In Valpurata you are either benandanti or malandanti, the workers of evil. The benedanti spend four times a year battling the witches. One morning she witnesses the leftover carnage from one of these night battles. Joan senses her appearance in Sicily is not coincidental.

The thrill of The Night Battles is reading the book and imagining the fantasy. It is illusion, mystical, magical and personal to the reader. Valpurata becomes Joan's rabbit hole, with fantasy and reality obscured as she learns the history of Piero and his relationship with the benandanti.

The author’s strength is her beautiful poetic phrasing. For example:

“Outside, the wind saws against the building like a train taking a curve.(103)
“I miss him so terribly that it seems he must have only set like a moon, gone below a certain horizon. I still feel the pull of his body.” (238)

The Night Battles commands your attention with mesmerizing intrigue and alluring appeal. M. F. Bloxam's novel is distinctly unusual, a thriller, tightly taut with tension. Bloxam is a sensualist with an acute sensory awareness that makes this book live.


Wisteria Leigh

Thanks to The Permanent Press for the ARC of this novel.
This review was first published on Blogcritics.org

Mailbox Monday, March 2, 2009

Happy Mailbox Monday

Looking out my window this morning was like an invitation to dive into clouds of marshmallow fluff. Undoubtedly colder, not as sweet but certainly as inviting. Before going to bed, the forecast was all but certain that the storm was imminent, but teachers never count on that. So with eight inches or more accumulation, I said, SNOW DAY!!! After all, teachers are just like students who never grew up.

Snow days are great, but many people don't realize they do have to be made up at the end of the year. Even still, during the cold, dark, bear sleeping days of winter they are welcomed.

So for Mailbox Monday, the above picture is of a woman from 1910 delivering mail by horse drawn carriage. She must have loved the cold and snow to do this job. Most of the time, in rural areas they even had to buy their own vehicles (some still do).
Courtesy of the National Postal Museum
http://photography.si.edu/SearchImage.aspx?id=5636

In my mailbox this week

... delivered by move conventional means I received:

*The Manual of Detection by Jedediah Berry
*Sag Harbor by Colson Whitehead
*The Secret Life of Transformation by Julie Chrystyn
*The Girl She Used to Be by David Cristofano
*Outcasts United by Warren St. John
*Rubies in the Orchard by Lynda Resnick
*Life Sentences by Laura Lippman

Monday Thoughts

1. Little Women's "women" seem so much older than our "little women" today.
2. One of my four greyhounds will trim his own nails. Lucky me.
3. I have to go shovel snow and now it doesn't seem like fluff.
4. Will mail come today with another ARC? Postal carriers, overnight carriers are amazing...they have to walk and drive in some of the worst conditions...Thank you.
5. Banana Split ice cream is irresistible..not fair.
6. My cat Owen Beanie thinks he is a dog and plays fetch.
7. My dog Webster thinks he is a hamster and will make a burrow out of blankets.

....(Literary Feline writes Random Thoughts on her blog and I got this idea from her. LT I hope you don't mind)

Look at the positive in yourself and...have a great day!! Wisteria

Sunday Salon, History of Now--- Book Giveaway

Our area is getting ready for the "big" snowstorm due on our doorstep tonight and tomorrow. If so I might be shoveling 8-10 inches tomorrow. In any event, sorry I am late posting my Sunday Salon, my grad course has me busy, busy, busy. This week I've been reading Little Women, from a historical context. I have a presentation on Wednesday, so my Sunday Salon time got bumped this week. I have to work when I'm most alert...mornings:)

Giveaway for The History of Now by Daniel Klein

A while ago I wrote a review about this awesome novel. I am pretty sure many of you would really like it. Today was the release date for the book. To celebrate this event I am raffling off a new ARC copy of the book.(USA Residents only) The review is below for those who have not had a chance to read it.

Rules: Please leave a comment on today's post about the review and I will enter your name in the raffle. If you blog about the raffle on your site, I will give you two additional raffle chances. That would be THREE chances.Woo Hoo!!! Anytime you visit my blog until March 15th and leave a comment you will get another chance to win. When my package comes to your mailbox you will smile. The contest will run through March 15th midnight. Good Luck.
ARC compliments of Permanent Press.

The History of Now by Daniel Klein

March 1, 2009, HC, 296 pages
ISBN 1579621813
$28.00

Have you ever thought your life was so average that no one would want to read about it? Daniel Klein dispels that myth in his new book,The History of Now as he tells the story of a somewhat typical family living in Grandville, Massachusetts. The town is the quintessential image of bucolic New England. As the story unfolds you quickly become enmeshed in the ordinary yet extraordinary sequence of events that are destined to become Now.

Wendel deVries is a 65 year old divorcee who runs the projector at the local Phoenix theater. Before his divorce he had a daughter Franny. His daughter Franny, suffers from a lack of self-esteem and confidence. Her daughter Lila, is a recalcitrant pot smoking lazy high school teen coupled with a strained mother daughter relationship. Since Lila has never known her father, grandfather Wendel is the closest to a father she has had. Wendel moves on with his life and surprisingly one day meets someone and they fall in love.

Meanwhile, somewhere in South America a young boy named Hector flees to Miami with hopes of starting a new life. One day in class, Lila learns that years ago, nineteenth century, there were deVries in Grandville who were African American. With impish amusement she questions her grandfather hoping to discover the validity of her teacher’s historical findings. Were there slaves in her family tree? Could she have black relatives and possibly relatives who owned slaves?

Klein’s novel is the story of the lives of these people and how they will ultimately connect. Philosophically, who cares? Well, the story would be no story if the lives of many people did not happen before those who live now. Sound confusing? It is a cause and effect model shaped in the beliefs of David Hume. Now is now because it was destined to happen because of the history that came before it.

The orchestral piece Bolero comes to mind as I read this book. The novel begins with a diminutive and simple opening and as each person, each layer, each cause to the effect is added the pulse slowly builds, gradually increasing in complexity. Discord and a cacophony of drama comes together toward the middle as each person becomes more conscious of their life and their actions. The past is revealed through a series of flashbacks, but still, like the composer Ravel, the author Klein, carefully scaffolds the story to a perfect climax and then conclusion.

What I enjoyed about this book was that it is so ordinary, so believable, that anyone wanting to write their story can visualize their own chronology of history a book. It is also idiosyncratic as you reflect upon the author’s philosophical dogma, making this a noteworthy novel of Now. Let’s hope there is a short wait for book two in this trilogy.

Wisteria Leigh

Permanent Press Website

Mailbox Monday

History and historical fiction being my passion and inspiration, this photo seemed appropriate for this Mailbox Monday. They did manage to get here from Cripple Creek with five books this week.

1) regina's closet by diana m. raab
Thanks to Marcia from The Printed Page and host of Mailbox Monday
2) The Secret Keeper, by Paula Harris
3) Tater & Tot, by Andrea Burris
4) The German Woman, by Paul Griner
5) The Strain (The Strain Trilogy)by Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan

By the way Marcia...your book looks brand new, thank you again for sending me this. I can't wait to read it.

Sunday Salon, February 22, 2009

Thank you Iliana for visiting my blog today and letting me know something was wrong with my feed. Apparently, when I went to Feedburner about a month ago I missed a step and I was stuck on a post in January. It looked like I hadn't been around if you subscribe to my feed. In any case I am glad to say after a bit, more like an hour of troubleshooting, I think I am in business. Please let me know if you subscribe to my feed if you receive this Sunday Salon post. Thanks so much and special thanks to Iliana at Bookgirl's Nightstand.

Interview with Sandra Worth

Since many of you may have missed my feed, I have a terrific interview with a historical fiction author a few days back. You might want to check it out and see her books, review and website information.

Reading this week

...was much about History 598 and Common Good/Pursuit of Happiness..alias my American History grad course.

The Duke of Stockbridge: A Romance of Shay's Rebellion

by Edward Bellemy... was a serialized romantic fictional account of the grass-roots uprisings in 1786 by laborers and farmers against the Federalists in power. I risk sounding cliche when I say "history repeats itself", but the workers, common laborers were rebelling against taxes, foreclosures, imprisonment due to debt-basically, a major recession!! For anyone interested in American History and likes historical literary fiction, this is an interesting read. Some regional dialect of the time period is challenging to sort through in the beginning, but adds ambiance and an element of social separation by the author. It was published after Edward Bellamy's death in 1900 by his brother. He wrote it some 100 years after the event and people are still reading this novel 100+ years after he wrote it. It is striking to draw such close parallels with the recession of 1786 and our current economic climate. As for the romance....that we know will never change.

Couple of chapters left to go....

Recovery of Ecstasy,Notebooks from Siberia, by Sandy Krolick
Unpolished Gem by Alice Pung

Reviews to follow!

History 598

is again calling me to The Revolution of 1800, another long book. All essays about the election of 1800/01. I know some of you like to know my course book requirements, this is edited by Horn, Lewis, and Onuf.

And....to all of you who are suffering with colds and flu and other ills that have you in bed this week...here is a pic for you! Feel better.

Wisteria,

An Interview with Sandra Worth

I am so excited today to bring to you an interview with Sandra Worth, author of several historical fiction novels. I read and then reviewed her recent book in the Rose of York Series, The King's Daughter on my New Year's Day post. Sandra has also written Lady of the Roses the first book of thes series and the Rose of York Trilogy. She has received countless awards and frequently lectures on the Wars of the Roses. Please visit her stunning websitethat will take you into her world of English Royalty.


Hi Sandra,
Thank you so much for being here today to discuss your book, The King’s Daughter. I know the blog readers will love to read this interview about Elizabeth of York, Queen of England. (wife of King Henry VII).

Wisteria, thank you so much for having me!

1) You obviously love writing about this period in England’s history. What is the allure that creates such passion compelling you to write about this time?

I first became interested in medieval England through a novel I read as a child. The story picked up where my fairytales left off, and I was fascinated because it was true history about girls in long dresses, and handsome men in shining armor. I never did let go of that book, and when the time came to write my own stories, I set them in medieval England. However, it quickly became apparent to me even as a child that the lives of real princes and princesses were complicated and usually didn’t end well. Anya Seton, my favorite author, had managed to find the one and only love story set in that time period that had a happy ending! That was KATHERINE, re-printed a few years ago and still claiming readers’ hearts.

2) Why did you decide to write about Elizabeth of York?

I first became acquainted with Elizabeth of York through her involvement with King Richard III, who she loved. After his death, she married his enemy Henry Tudor, the man who had killed him. I wondered how her life had turned out, and as I researched, I realized that here was yet another great drama.

3) Through your extensive research you must have come to know Elizabeth very well. What is your personal opinion of her. Do you like her?

I do like her very much, and I admire her for the hardships and griefs that she endured with such dignity and grace. It may seem odd to say this, but if she lived today, I think we’d be friends! Hers was not a happy lot, but she dedicated her life to good works, and went without in order to find money to help others.

4)The Queens of England have had various roles and influence during their reigns. What do you feel was Elizabeth’s greatest achievement? What was her greatest weakness?

Her greatest achievement was winning the hearts of her people and of those around her, especially her husband, Henry VII, one of the most unloveable of English kings. Her greatest weakness was her inability to assert herself. She was unable to take control of events, and was submissive to the will of others. Of course, once married to Henry VII, her situation precluded her from insisting on her way, and if she had done so (like her mother) Henry VII would have most likely done away with her, quietly, but effectively. This knowledge made her tread warily, and she—very wisely—chose her battles.

It is possible that Elizabeth’s mother had a great deal to do with this passivity. Elizabeth seems to have made a determined effort to prove herself the opposite of her angry, overbearing, domineering mother. For example, she chose as her motto “Humble and Reverent.” I see this as Elizabeth making a statement. Her mother was known for her arrogance, and piety was not regarded as one of her virtues, since she was thought to dabble in the Black Arts. Also, Elizabeth’s passivity (mentioned above) marks her as taking an opposite path through life from her mother. Elizabeth was a “healer” rather than a destroyer like her mother, Elizabeth Woodville.

5) As a young princess, Elizabeth had a loving relationship with her father, King Edward. One day after he executed his brother and Elizabeth was consoling him, she questioned his decision. Her father told her , “Sometimes a king must do what he knows is wrong, what is hateful to him. For the peace of the land.”

How do you think this defined Elizabeth? How does she cope with the strong women around her,--mother and mother-in-law?

To answer the first part of the question, it made her more accepting of Henry VII’s actions. As princess, she had witnessed the harsh realities of kingship and the sometimes cruel decisions that her father had to make. As Henry VII’s queen, she was forced to watch her husband murder her relatives, one by one. But even if she accepted that this had to be the way it was, how could she bear it as a woman of goodness and conscience? It is known that all through her married life the gift she commonly gave to others was a psalter. Perhaps here lies a clue. Helpless to alter the flow of events, she turned to prayer for sustenance.

As regards Elizabeth’s mother and mother-in-law, they seem to have been two peas in a pod. They both thirsted for power, and once they obtained it, they abused it heartily-- indulging their greed, their egos, and their paranoia. These two insufferable bullies dominated gentle Elizabeth of York while clashing violently with one another. Since power can only be met by power, eventually one of these women destroyed the other. Elizabeth of York, however, picked her battles. According to Francis Bacon, Bess Woodville is quoted as saying that her daughter was “demeaned”, in other words, not a true queen and kept low. Powerless to intervene, Elizabeth seems to have stayed out of their quarrels.

Elizabeth must have chafed under her domineering mother-in-law, but modern options such as divorce or leaving her husband were out of the question in those days. Only her husband could check her mother-in-law, but he didn’t love Elizabeth, and had no fear of her. No foreign army stood ready to march against him on her behalf, and he owed his mother his crown. So Elizabeth endured as courageously as she could.

6)How would you describe Elizabeth’s legacy?

It is a notable achievement. She healed a nation, and by sacrificing her heart and not fleeing after Bosworth, she united her country. She had no power, no money, and was of little consequence to her family. She couldn’t help those she loved, yet she won the hearts of her people and of all who knew her. When she died, her husband locked himself up to weep out the heart no one had guessed he had, and a nation plunged into mourning. She is known to history as Elizabeth the Good, and for good reason. She was truly “the people’s Queen.”

7)What would you like the readers to know most about The First Tudor Queen?

That she might be a forgotten queen, but she deserves to be remembered for the kind, gentle, beautiful, and loving person she was.

8)When writing historical fiction, I know the research is arduous and time consuming. What part of your research is the most difficult?

To capture the essence of the person you’re writing about in the absence of any surviving personal information. It’s like arranging a puzzle with way too many holes. You have to fill in the gaps, and the picture that emerges has to “fit” the known facts. So it takes a great deal of thought and imagination to see what might really have been, and to come up with a person of depth and credibility.

9) Can you tell us a little bit about your next novel and targeted release date?

Thanks, Wisteria, I’d be happy to—if I knew myself! There are two in the offing, both on the Wars of the Roses, but I don’t know which will “hit” first. I suspect one will be released close to the end of this year or early next winter, but I don’t have a release date for it yet.

This has been a great inside look from your perspective that readers don’t often have. I want to thank you Sandra for your time and the opportunity to share your thoughts about your fabulous book, The King’s Daughter. I will be one of those waiting somewhat impatiently for your next book.

Mailbox Monday

There was no candy this Valentine's Day in my mailbox but I did receive the following sweet presents, all ARCS. Who needs chocolate anyway?

Follow Me by Joanna Scott
Poppy & Erethby Avi
Unpolished Gemby Alice Pung
The Recovery of Ecstasy-Notebooks from Siberia by Sandy Krolick
I,Jacqueline by Hilda Lewis

Sunday Salon

Happy Valentine's Weekend! Hope everyone had a great week. As far as the reading goes this week I finished:

William Cooper's Town for my grad class in American History.

The Miracles of Prato a collaborative historical fiction by author Laurie Albanese and art historian Laura Morowitz.(Review forthcoming)

I, Jacqueline by Hilda Lewis,written in 1957, is a historical fiction from the 15th century. Based on the life of Jacqueline of Hainaut who was married and imprisoned three times and used as a political pawn. A woman of character and strength she withstood and survived the political environment and chaos in three courts;England,France and Burgundy. Review forthcoming in Historical Novels Review(May 09).

I'm in the middle of reading:

The Night Battles by M. F. Bloxam
Journey to Tracer's Point by Gwyn Ramsey
The Duke of Stockbridge: A Romance of Shay's Rebellion by Edward Bellemy

Upcoming on the nightstand:

Yellow Knife by Steve Kipp
Follow Me, by Joanna Scott
The Sacred Well by Antoinette May
Big Boy Rules by Steve Fainaru



I red this a while ago and had to wait for the published article to appear to print my review. This was a very interesting read for those fans of historical fiction...take a look.

RED CLAY, BLOOD RIVER
William J. Everett, Booklocker, 2008, $18.95, 436pp, 9781601454188
Red Clay, Blood River is a three-century saga peppered with symbolic images and a complicated lineage of characters. Valentin Trask sails to America as an indentured servant; Jakob Trask sails to England and eventually South Africa. Thembinkosi is captured, chained, and sails to South Africa where she is enslaved. Years later, she is sold and sails to America, where she is slave to a Cherokee couple.
Earth is the narrator for this part of the story and a sagacious communicator with the women in the novel. The theme is about the connectivity we have to our world and how the earth binds us to each other. To support this, Everett presents the parallels between the Cherokee “Trail of Tears” and South Africa’s “Great Trek.”
The second story is that of Clayton, Lanier, and Marie, ecology students who met while doing research. At first I was annoyed by their conversations, wanting to focus more on the past. It becomes less intrusive as the story develops.
The author’s strength is his subtle symbolism threaded throughout, beginning with his choice of title, Red Clay, Blood River. He has planned his flow of symbols to show connections between people. The character of Thembinkosi is enchanting and regal, yet a slave, who withstood so much and complained so little. Her strength, beauty, and soul out-shined all others, enough where I would hope her story would develop more into another novel.
Everett has conveyed the harsh realities of each country’s historical events, government oppression, brutality, and the degradation of slavery. It is a story of inspiration, love, romance, and hope with a message given that deep relationships can form with others when we eliminate the lines, borders, and walls that prevent connections. -- Wisteria Leigh



I can't write much this week as I have a pinched nerve in my neck, but I did want to say hi to everyone. I hate missing a week of Sunday Salon, because it always pumps me up for the week. I love hearing about everyone's week and book choices. So hope your weeks go smoothly. Happy Valentine's Day, President's Day and Don't forget....Read Across America is coming up soon. Yeah Dr. Seuss!!!

Soul Enchilada by David Macinnis Gill

A copy of this book came to me to read and I had to share my review with you.
The book is intended for young adults grade 9+, but don't let that prevent you from picking this book up to read. If you can stand the heat. I highly recommend this spiced up "can't touch this" surprise debut.

Soul Enchilada, by David Macinnis Gill,Greenwillow Books/Harper Collins.978-0-06-167301-6

Soul Enchilada: The Devil is in the Details is a riotous, rip roaring ride in a 1958 Cadillac Biarritz about to be repossessed by Mr. Beals, otherwise known as Beelzebub. The current owner is Bugs, a struggling young teen, who can barely make rent, and barely make it to work. She has title to the car, because she co:signed for her grandfather, who without her knowledge, had made a side deal with the devil before his demise that included giving him his soul if he could just have this beautiful Cadillac.

The problem now is that sitting on her passenger seat is Mr Beals, invisible to all but her, and he wants payment. Papa C, her grandfather, skipped out on his last payment, his soul of course. When Bugs finds out that when she co-signed the loan she was next in line to pay up, the joy ride begins.

The setting is El Paso, Texas and Eunice “Bug” Smoot is thirteen. She is the fastest pizza delivery person in El Paso, but not fast enough to keep her job and so this story will deliver a plethora of comedic scenes and dialog that will have you rolling along with Bugs. You just can’t imagine the trouble she encounters trying to run from the devil.

David Macinnis Gill is a brilliant conversationalist accurately synthesizing the natural flowing cultural dialect, speech patterns and slang of the streets. Believable, humorous and age appropriate make the dialogue just right.
Hilarious moments as the story unfolds will grab you with chuckles, belly laughing and outright hysteria from beginning to end.

I enjoyed this book so much, I can’t wait for another adventure by this debut author. This is a must have on library shelves and will be enjoyed by all readers in high school.


David Macinnis' Website