Category Archives: Book Talk

Spotlight on Crumbs Aren’t Enough by Raquel Whiting Gilmer

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Join Raquel Whiting Gilmer, author of the chick lit book, Crumbs Aren’t Enough, as she tours the blogosphere September 2 – November 29, 2013 on her first virtual book tour with Pump Up Your Book!

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Crumbs Aren't EnoughABOUT CRUMBS AREN’T ENOUGH

With $80,000 in student debt, an alter ego named Crazy Charlie, and more than her fair share of hang-ups, Charlie Bennett is on a mission: a mission to feel better about herself.

By all accounts this shouldn’t be too difficult. After all, Charlie has graduated from the best universities, has good friends to keep her sane, and an impressive resume to boot. But her poor choices in men (and therapists) have left Charlie feeling fat, fretful, and fed up. She knows something has to change–she’s just not sure what.

When the elevator doors open and Jack Hudson appears with his perfect smile and perfect teeth, Charlie thinks she’s found her answer. A Taye Diggs lookalike who sees through Charlie’s imperfections, Jack could be The One–and not just because he can make strawberry shortcake from scratch. But as their relationship develops without any sign of a commitment, Charlie is left grabbing for crumbs yet again.

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Raquel Whiting GilmerABOUT RAQUEL WHITING GILMER

Hi, my name is Raquel Whiting Gilmer and I am a wife, daughter, aspiring mother (I don’t have any kids yet but I want them.), sister, friend, small group leader, lawyer, entrepreneur, confidant, advisor, blogger, twitter attempter, soon to be published author, and accepter of crumbs. Well, a recovering crumbs accepter. What’s a crumb accepter? Is it as bad as it sounds? It’s bad, but it’s preventable and curable.

Freedictionary.com defines a crumb as a small fragment, scrap, or portion. And it defines accepter as one who accepts. So a crumbs accepter is one who accepts small scraps. No bueno, right? How did I get like this? Well, I think my low self-esteem was the root cause of it. And I’ve learned that when your self-esteem is bad then you will accept anything including crumbs in all areas of your life. BTW, my biggest crumbs area was definitely my relationships with men.

Things are different now and I have committed myself to Live Crumbs Free. Live crumbs free? Yes, I am committed to not accepting crumbs in any area of my life. But to get to this point, I had to do some work. I first had to work on my self-esteem. And after lots of therapy I got to a place where not only did I have high self-esteem but I started a website, www.perfectlyme.com, and a girls’ program, Perfectly Me Girls to encourage other women and girls to embrace and love who they are and not judge themselves by the world’s standards. Our motto is I’m not perfect, I’m just Perfectly Me.

Once my self-esteem was on the rise, I could start to look at the crumbs in my life. And I knew I had to deal with my personal crumbs and I’m happy to report that after many failed relationships and mounds of crumbs, I met the love of my life and married him. Yay!!! I have the full meal and then some now and it has changed my life. I want everyone to have that full meal and I know how bad the crumbs are so I’ve written my first novel about a woman struggling with relationships who finally figures out that Crumbs Aren’t Enough. I hope you will read my blog at www.raquelwhiting.com, check out my novel, and follow me on twitter, @perfectlyraquel, as I dole out advice and wisdom (my limited wisdom) on keeping your self-esteem high and getting rid of the crumbs.

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Pump Up Your Book and Raquel Whiting Gilmer are teaming up to give you a chance to win a $200 Amazon Gift Card!

Here’s how it works:

Each person will enter this giveaway by liking, following, subscribing and tweeting about this giveaway through the Rafflecopter form placed on blogs throughout the tour. If your blog isn’t set up to accept the form, we offer another way for you to participate by having people comment on your blog then directing them to where they can fill out the form to gain more entries.

This promotion will run from September 2 – November 29. The winner will be chosen randomly by Rafflecopter, contacted by email and announced on November 30, 2013.

Each blogger who participates in the Crumbs Aren’t Enough virtual book tour is eligible to enter and win.

Visit each blog stop below to gain more entries as the Rafflecopter widget will be placed on each blog for the duration of the tour.

If you would like to participate, email Tracee at tgleichner(at)gmail.com. What a great way to not only win this fabulous prize, but to gain followers and comments too! Good luck everyone!

ENTER TO WIN!

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Crumbs Aren’t Enough Book Publicity Tour Schedule

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Monday, September 2 – Book featured at Between the Pages

Tuesday, September 3 – Book featured at Jody’s Book Reviews

Wednesday, September 4 – Interviewed at Review From Here

Monday, September 9 – Guest blogging at Literal Exposure

Wednesday, September 11 – Book featured at Moonlight, Lace and Mayhem

Thursday, September 12 – 1st chapter reveal at Books and Needlepoint

Friday, September 13 – Book featured at Bibliotica

Monday, September 16 – Book reviewed at Bibliotica

Monday, September 16 – Book featured at My Reading Table

Tuesday, September 17 – Book reviewed at My Reading Table

Wednesday, September 18 – Book featured at Confessions of a Reader

Thursday, September 19 – Book featured at Icefairy’s Treasure Chest

Monday, September 23 – Interviewed at Book Reviews by Dee

Wednesday, September 25 – Interviewed at Broowaha

Thursday, September 26 – Guest blogging at Straight from the Author’s Mouth

Monday, September 30 – Book featured at The Road to Here

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MisssMeliss Interviews Meg Lacey

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Yesterday, I posted my review of Meg Lacey’s latest novel, The Sparrow and the Hawk. Tomorrow over at ALL THINGS GIRL, you can read my interview with her. The direct link is: Author Insight: Meg Lacey. It goes live at 7:30 AM US EDT.

Here’s a preview:

MAB: Is there a particular scene or passage from The Sparrow and the Hawk that you’re particularly proud of? If so, please share it with us, or describe it.

ML: I love the party scene because of the outrageous cast of characters and their conversations with each other.

I love the fact that the party starts as a get together and is full of party manners and dialogue, but eventually deteriorates into something else, something dark and evil, rather repellent. But through the entire scene there is a lot of humor. The humor comes from the characters initially and then evolves into black humor created by the situation that develops.

You can read the review here.

BTT: Anything You Can Do…

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Booking Through Thursday is a blog that asks a bookish question each week. This week, BTT wrote:

A while ago, I interviewed my readers for a change, and my final question was, “What question have I NOT asked at BTT that you’d love me to ask?” I got some great responses and will be picking out some of the questions from time to time to ask the rest of you. Like now.

Patricia asks a particularly insightful question:

Ever read a book you thought you could have written better yourself?

I don’t have titles falling of the tip of my tongue, but I know that there have been books where half-way through (or sooner) the dialogue has been so stilted or otherwise unrealistic, or the awareness of space and objects so bad, that I’ve entertained thoughts of writing it better. Ultimately, however, I end up either finishing the book and grumbling about it, or not finishing the book, and grumbling about it.

As much as I love the wide variety of free ebooks that are out there, I have to say that while many are very, very good, there are an equal number that were published by people who should never again be allowed near a keyboard without supervision.

When I interviewed Marsha Mason for ATG a couple of years ago, we talked about her memoir, and she said she believes everyone should write.

I agree. Everyone should write, whether it’s fiction, letters, or a diary.

But not everyone should publish, even on Amazon.

I should add, however, that sometimes a poorly written story still has an amazing or interesting concept, and when I do think, “Oh, I could do that better,” it’s generally the concept I’m responding to.

ATOPIA: An Update from Matthew Mather

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An email from Mr. Mather this morning:

Many apologies, but after talking with a few people it seems there was a technical issue with the augmented reality target in “Atopia 1 – Blue Skies” yesterday that made it difficult for some people to view the augmented reality image.

I have corrected the issue with an updated version. If you had any problems seeing the augmented reality image yesterday (it should work very easily!) you can upload a new augmented reality image by downloading “Atopia 2 – Timedrops” (the 2nd part of the series) right now (it is $0.99 cents, sorry but I couldn’t get the promotion manager to make it zero for today)…

…or you can download a new copy of “Atopia 1 – Blue Skies” tomorrow (Saturday) by following the instructions below (I should have a corrected version loaded into Atopia 1 by this afternoon…sorry for delay, just frustrating slow refresh rates with Kindle system)…

To load a new copy of Atopia 1 you would need to erase your current version by following these steps

1) Type “my kindle” into search bar in Amazon.com
2) Cllick “manage my kindle” from list of options that appear
3) On list item “Atopia 1” that appears in your list of Kindle items, click “actions” and then choose option “delete”
4) Type “Atopia” in search bar and reload Atopia 1

Many apologies for any wasted time or frustrations…it is a very cool effect and I will make sure to test for thoroughly in the future…!

Augmented Reading?

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Earlier today, I received an email that reads, in part:

Atopia novels first to use Kindle as augmented reality platform

The new Atopia series of novellas are the first to use the Kindle to view 3D augmented reality images of objects in the stories

NEW YORK, March 15th, 2012 – Today author Matthew Mather announced the release of the Atopia series of novellas, the first to use the Amazon Kindle or other reading device as an augmented reality viewing platform. Using augmented reality markers embedded in the stories, readers are able to view fully 3D images of the world of Atopia “floating” above their Kindle. Everything to experience this effect is available for free right now, including a free limited time offer (March 15th -18th) of the first Atopia story. To try it out for yourself, just click here to go to Amazon to download for free today, or type “Atopia” into your Kindle (or Kindle app on PC or iPad), download “Atopia 1 – Blue Skies” and then follow the instructions at the end of the story.

The book is available free through the weekend, so I downloaded it, but I won’t have time to read it til Saturday or Sunday. If you also download it, let me know: what kind of Kindle you have (Kindle3? New key-less Kindle? Kindle Fire? Kindle app on an iDevice?) and tell me what you think.

From SALON: Is Chick-Lit Dead?

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This morning in the Salon.com newsletter, there was a piece by Laura Miller asking, “Is Chick-Lit Dead?” I can see her point that characters like the Shopaholic really don’t translate to the current economic climate, but one of the reasons I like chick-lit (or, as I call it, “bathtub reading”) is that it does have an element of escapism. Sure, sometimes I want to read deep, thought-provoking novels, but other times, I just want a little literary mind-candy.

In any case, Ms. Miller’s piece begins:

Is chick lit dead? Less than a decade after commentators clucked at bookstore shelves lined with cartoon high-heels and pink cocktail glasses, the only debate that the once-flourishing genre inspires now is over when to run its obituary. Some say chick lit is well and truly defunct, while others insist there’s some life in the old girl yet. Since there has never been much agreement on what, exactly, chick lit is, perhaps the question can’t be settled.

You can read the rest by following this link. It opens in a new window.

The Sunday Salon: Catching Up

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Reading in the Bath

I spent much of December not blogging because I was wrapped up in an intense work project that had me wanting to avoid the keyboard when I wasn’t working, so instead of writing for myself when I was done writing for other people, I did what I’ve always done: escape into books.

In December my escape books were fluffier than usual.

I began with Judi Fennel’s delightful romp I Dream of Genies, which includes an homage to Barbara Eden, and a re-imagining of every classic djinni trope out there. Romance, yes, but with a goodly amount of humor.

Then I re-read the first eight novels in Diane Duane’s “Young Wizards” series. Okay, technically it was the first seven and a not-quite prequel, but still. Books eight and nine will be in my hands on Wednesday, but I’m saving them for when Fuzzy is in Boca again.

I succumbed to the lure of free and inexpensive Kindle material with Joseph Bottom’s collection of Dakota Christmas vignettes, which was a lovely read, even though some of it was pretty dark, and then moved west, and a little south, and read a Harlequin novel (remember, it was FREE) called Colorado Christmas which made me wistful for the Christmases I spent in Georgetown, CO, and for the Georgetown Loop.

Finally, I picked up Julie Andrews’ memoir Home which was really interesting. We know her voice, but in this book, we get to see different sides of her.

And now, I’m caught up, sort of. I have a dual-stack of books going – those I started last year and didn’t finish (The Paris Wife, anyone?) for whatever reason, and those I haven’t even begun, but are speaking to me. I split them between Kindle and paper – I like paperbacks for reading in the bath – and will be working through them as fast as possible.

Peacocks! (Sink me!)

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Peacock

Peacock | Source: istockphoto.com | Click to embiggen

My first book of January is Benjamin Mee’s memoir, We Bought a Zoo, which, admittedly, I was inspired to read because of the movie (which is not an Oscar winner by any means, but was charming nevertheless.)

Last night, I came across Mee’s description of peacocks:

Peacocks seem to have been designed by a flamboyant madman, probably of Indian extraction given the fine detailing, though with more than a nod toward the tastes of Liberace. Even in repose they are stunning, their impossibly blue heads and necks suddenly giving way to equally unlikely green and gold feathers laid like scales from halfway down their backs. These in turn abruptly change into their famous long tail feathers, many of them around a meter, easily three times as long as the males’ bodies. As if this is not enough, as an afterthought their heads are embellished with more blue-tipped feathers on narrow stalks, which blossom out in an animal parody of a Roman centurion’s helmet. And why the hell not? you think. They’ve gone this far. It seems the only limit to their opulence is the almost boundless confines of the imagination of their Indian Liberace designer.

Is it any wonder that the passage above had me humming “The Creation of Man” from the Broadway musical The Scarlet Pimpernel? Witness:

2011 Reading Wrap-up

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Every year, I try to log every book I’ve read, even if I don’t actually review them all. This year, I’ve logged 96 books here at Bibliotica, and I’m sure I’ve missed a few, but I’ll leave the count there, because it seems a reasonable number. I’m always reading something, but sometimes fanfic will be my obsession, or magazines, or…well…not books.

In any case, here’s my list:

  • Favorite new-to-me fiction: 13 Little Blue Envelopes, by Maureen Johnson and Pirate King by Laurie R. King
  • Favorite previously-read fiction: The Black Jewels series, by Anne Bishop, which I didn’t log here, but re-read before reading the newest book this spring.
  • Favorite new-to-me non-fiction: Kiss My Tiara: How to Rule the World as a Smartmouth Goddess, by Susan Jane Gilman
  • Favorite previously-read non-fiction: The Wave: In Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks and Giants of the Ocean, by Susan Casey
  • Favorite new-to-me authors: Melissa Foster & Katherine Russell
  • Favorite previously-read authors: Keith R. A. DeCandido, Anne Bishop, and Laurie R. King

RIP Anne McCaffrey

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I don’t remember how old I was the first time I read one of Anne McCaffrey’s Pern novels, but I was definitely no older than fourteen. I do remember that I’d confused DragonSong, which I loved, with Lizard Music, which I hated, for the longest time, and that probably kept me from reading them at first.

I have fond memories of a chilly night in a rented vacation home in Inverness, California, sleeping on a bunk overlooking the forest and the ocean beyond, reading long past the time I should have been asleep, because the house was strange, and too quiet, and the bookshelves held first editions of ALL of the Pern books.

Later, of course, much later, I stumbled into the world of MUSHes and MOOs and found myself playing a dragonrider on a Pern-themed role-playing game. I met Fuzzy that way, and many of my other friends.

Even later than that, I learned about McCaffrey’s incredibly odd views on homosexuality (which I will not go into here), and finally, I realized I’d grown out of Pern, though never out of science fiction.

When I heard, a few hours ago, that she’d passed away yesterday at her adopted home in Ireland (a self-designed house named Dragonhold – Underhill), it affected me enough that I had to pause a moment, and take a breath, and send her love and light as her spirit is consigned to whatever eternity may be.

Dragonriders of Pern

I never knew the woman.

But I knew her stories, and I knew her books, and they gave me hours of pleasure and led me to the man I love, and some amazing friends who are among the most talented people I know.

And I know that she was the first woman to win a HUGO award, that she was one of the few women who was active and successful in Science Fiction/Fantasy when it was still very much a male-dominated genre, and that she served as a writing mentor to a collection of authors who went on to write amazing stories of their own.

So, rest in peace, Anne McCaffrey. Maybe this weekend I’ll read one of your books as a form of remembrance.

Ms. McCaffrey’s publisher has posted a statement about her death. You can see it here.