Sing in the Morning, Cry at Night

Sing in the Morning, Cry at Night, by Barbara J. Taylor, © 2014, Akashic Books

This debut novel from Barbara J Taylor opens in grief. Young Daisy's life has been extinguished too soon in a freak sparkler accident in her backyard. Her sister Violet is witness to the accident and many whisper that perhaps the incident was in fact her fault. Their mother Grace is thrown into heavy mourning and their father Owen quickly finds solace at the bottom of a bottle. It looks to be a sad tale that just might not find its way back out.

The story may have a sad premise, but Taylor convinces the reader to join her in the tale, as we watch bewildered Violet try to find a space in her new world. Her mother is lost in grief and her father abandons the family to move into a gin mill in town, where the firewater that numbs his reality is readily available. It seems no one cares about poor Violet, until "stinky" Stanley befriends her. The two form a quick friendship fuelled by both of their outcast statuses; Stanley's mother is dead and his father another disgruntled miner working long hours. Where no one else seems to care about them, the children find hope and life in each other.

The world of the anthracite coal mines is harsh and filled with constant threat of tragedy in this turn-of-the century novel. As each bell rings out an accident, both fear and hope are flamed. Will a new tragedy bring Violet's torn family back together once more? The mine that employs the bulk of the men in town, also takes as many away. It is a reality that touches everyone in town, where Violet's father Owen works, and eventually Stanley finds himself as well. The only thing that brings comfort is the heavy presence of the church, even with its share of meddling church ladies and their caustic tongues. In Grace's case though, it would seem that grief is even more powerful than God's good graces. Owen prayers died on his tongue with his daughter too.

So what will it take to reunite a family torn apart by grief? You will soon find out in this quick read.

Thanks to Akashic Books for sending me an Advance Reading Copy to review!

Waiting for the Man

Waiting for the Man, by Arjun Basu © 2014, ECW Press

Joe is in his mid-30s. He is in advertising and does quite well at it, laying claim to successful beer, beans, and dog food campaigns. Everything Joe attempts, turns out right.

But one day he wakes up in a panic. He's 35 and life somehow appears meaningless. He can get any girl he wants, but is single. He is surrounded by people daily, but is without real friends. His family loves him from afar. He's good at his job, which pays the bills, but at the end of the day, it all leaves him empty.

Until a voice in his head tells him to wait. So he does.

So began a vision quest that took Joe from the streets of high-profile New York to middle-of-nowhere Montana. The voyage holds much soul-searching, questions about what life is all about, and debate about if we are supposed to find meaning in it all. Joe is a cynic and his journey isn't easy. For one, there is a mini van. And lots of bad pizza. Showers and sleep are minimal.

Sounds like the making of any great adventure, right?

Are you interested in learning more? How about a few words from the author, Arjun Basu himself? I had the pleasure of asking him a few questions. Here is what he has to say about "Waiting for the Man" and the writing process that went along with it.

1. How long did it take you to write the first draft of “Waiting for the Man”? How long was the editing phase? When it came time to publish it, did you debate self-publishing or insist on the traditional route of a publishing company? What made you decide to use ECW Press?        ~ AB: The first draft was written so long ago, it's hard to properly answer the question. The story behind getting this story out is long and arduous. It involves probably 10 drafts, a huge rethinking of the story after draft 4, the discarding of two complete threads (and one major character, almost a co-narrator), and really winnowing this thing down to its essence. It also involves 4 agents (!) and, yes, a time when I was considering self-publishing so that I could move on and get with my life and my writing. But then ECW stepped up, and I was "given" a great editor in Emily Schultz and we worked really well together - she saw a fully realized work but then made it that much more complete. 
2.       Many people speculate throughout the book as to who “The Man” actually is, i.e. God, Jesus, a Muslim, Jew, Hindu, Taoist, Buddhist, etc. His omnipotence is what attracts people to Joe’s story, but is he any of these things? As much as his presence is the driving force in Joe’s journey that begins in New York, his time in Montana is devoid of any influence from The Man. So what role did The Man actually have in Joe’s story?
       ~ AB: That speculation is valid and is even brought up in the book itself. But because The Man is in Joe's head (and only his head), he/it gets imprinted with a lot of meaning by a lot of people. And Joe being an advertising guy, probably sees a certain irony in his situation, sure, but on some level he also understands that his story is not his at all, that all stories are given meaning by those receiving it, and that we all interpret stories to suit us. I don't know that Joe gives up on The Man, but he sees everything for what it is. In Montana, The Man is already in his rear view mirror. And perhaps he/it ends up being Joe's inner voice just telling him to find something, anything, and get out of the rut he finds in New York.
3.       Have you ever gone on a “vision quest” or done any extreme soul searching of your own? Why and what was its outcome?
       ~ AB: I've gone on road trips. When I was younger I went on road trips every summer - some of those memories made their way into the book. I've never gone on a vision quest, per se, though some journeys seems to become a kind of vision quest. My desire to write was the result of a lot of baby steps growing up, but when I was 18, I left home and hung out in Banff for 6 months and when I returned home I realized I was going to write. I didn't head out West with that goal, it just happened. Was that a vision quest?
4.       Joe has an interesting relationship with people. He is a self-proclaimed womanizer and has a decided lack of connection with anyone. So how is it that he was picked by “The Man” for this journey? Do you think that we all have a little piece of “Joe” in us? How did this affect his relationship with characters in the parallel story in Montana?
       ~ AB: The Man doesn't so much pick Joe as Joe picks The Man. At least that's how I see it. There's probably some deep self-improvement mumbo-jumbo in that statement. But I don't see Joe as anti-social as much as he's a bit numbed by modern life. That doesn't make him unique.
5.       Were you changed by the writing of this book? Do you have any other books in the making?
        ~ AB: I don't know that I was changed by the writing but it's possible that I was changed by the process. I wrote this book at the same time as a huge shift in the publishing industry. It was amazing to see such change occur while I was writing. In a way, it shifted my goals, but in the end, my goal, my primary goal, remained the same. And now my goal is to finish my next novel. I've started writing it. My only hope is it doesn't take as long to write as Waiting for the Man.

Thank you so much for sharing Arjun! Myself and my readers appreciate your thoughts and time. 

This review/author interview/giveaway is part of a book tour promoted by ECW Press. Words of Mystery started off the tour last Monday, but please take the time to visit the other bloggers on the tour.

Thursday, May 1st - Words of Mystery - Tour kickoff & review

Monday, May 5th - Buried in Print - Review

Tuesday, May 6th - A New Day - Review & giveaway

Wednesday, May 7th - The Book Stylist - Review

Thursday, May 8th - bookgaga - Review

Friday, May 9th - A Bookworm’s World - Review & giveaway

~~~

So, does this put you in mind of any journeys of your own? Have you broken with the status quo, even for a moment, to dip a little deeper into what life is all about? Would you care to escape life's confines to travel along with Joe, as he stops and waits for the Man? Tell me about your own soul searching moment and you will be entered into a contest to win your own copy of "Waiting for the Man" by Arjun Basu. The folks at ECW Press were good enough to send me a copy to review, plus included an extra just for YOU!

All I want to know is a little bit about your own experience with "The Man". Share this contest with your friends, followers and whomever might be on a vision quest of their own. I look forward to your answers!

In the interim, feel free to watch the trailer about the book below. And don't forget to dig deep for your existential dreams to share with me...



a Rafflecopter giveaway

To Review a Book

I have written a number of book reviews here at A New Day. Most of them have been positive, barring a few bad eggs here and there. It started because I joined a book club. The ladies of my club meet once a month to discuss the book "du jour". Over wine and nibblies, we debate the merits of whichever book we have chosen that month. We have gushed over "The Night Circus", squirmed over "We Need to Talk about Kevin" and wondered what the heck the author was trying to say in "Seven Ravens: Two Summer in a Life by the Sea". By the way, don't even bother trying to look that last one up. It is still considered the worst book we have attempted to read over the five years that we've been together. All thumbs down.

Aside from books suggested by my book club, many other books have crossed the threshold of my sacred bedside table reading stack. There are ones that have languished (like one on Catherine the Great that I just can't get through for the life of me), and others that were there but an instant due to me not being able to put them down. Those are the books I wish I could linger over longer, but ultimately end up back in my re-read pile.

A good book never dies. It is reborn every time we crack the spine anew.

You can quote me on that if you want. 

So why so much discussion on books today? Well, I recently finished another book, this one sent to me from ECW Press. They are a Canadian publishing house based out of Toronto with over 30 years of experience and almost 1000 books in print. And when they sent me this newest book, they actually included another copy for me. Well to be more exact, they sent a copy for me to review and one to include as a giveaway. This post is all about getting you excited for that! Don't we all love books and love them more when they are FREE!

**Consider this your heads up to come back and visit A New Day next Tuesday, May 6th, 2014. I'll have my book review ready and a special treat for readers. See you then!**

Interested in Winning?

The Bear

The Bear, by Claire Cameron; © 2014, Doubleday Canada

Shortly on the heels of finishing All the Broken Things, I was given another book that featured a bear, this one written by Claire Cameron. Where Kuitenbrouwer's book depicted an appealing beast that you couldn't help feel for, Cameron's black bear was anything but. Her animal was wild and extremely dangerous, and the start of a terrifying ordeal for two young children.

Five-year-old Anna is on a camping trip with her Mom, Dad and little brother Alex, affectionately known as Stick. Things have been difficult in her parent's relationship as of late, but a late-summer portage trip seemed just the thing to smooth over troubled waters. That is until an overnight stop at a small island  leads to tragedy. A black bear sniffs them out and attacks, but not before Daddy stuffs little Anna and two-year-old Stick into a Coleman cooler for protection.

While Coleman saves Anna and Stick from the bear's deadly claws, they can't stay in the metal box forever. And once Anna kicks them to freedom, the next step is more than any five-year-old can fathom, that of making their way to safety in the wilds of Algonquin Park alone. With nothing more than a box of cookies and the dying words of her mother to give her direction, Anna must take responsibility for Stick and their lives. Their canoe gets them off the island and away from the bear, but where to go next is beyond little Anna. How to survive is another matter entirely.

Written in a first-person narrative, the reader travels along with the children as they struggle to find shelter, food and a way out of the wilderness, with the meagre skills that their youth allows. The choices they make are terrifying for an adult, let alone for two children with no experience in how to take care of themselves. Cameron masterfully sets you on edge though, as you internally scream at the children to not touch this and stay away from that, to no avail. As a parent, I wanted to scoop them up and take charge, soothing the children with promises that it would all be alright. But only Anna had the power to ensure that.

If you like to camp and have a young family, this book might not be for you. It strikes fear into every worst case scenario that parents put themselves through in relation to their children. If you are curious to see how Anna and Stick make out in the wilds of Northern Ontario without an adult to guide them though, then this book is a well-written tale that will have you flipping pages to the end.

That end you will have to read for yourself though...

All The Broken Things

All the Broken Things, by Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer; © 2014, Random House Canada

I have been searching for a book to read that has the ability to reach out and touch me. On average, I read two books a month and can't say as how I've read much that has excited me since the end of last summer.

That changed when I was handed "All the Broken Things" by Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer.

I am lucky to have many books recommended to me via my book club. Some of them are fabulous, some shocking, others barely worth the paper they are written on. Kuitenbrouwer's book went one better though, as one of our members got free copies of the book for everyone. While free books rock, that doesn't mean they are always worth the read. This one was.

Bo's family is displaced to Canada during the Vietnam War to escape from the evils of Agent Orange. While they escape the fighting, they are not immune to the effects that the defoliant has - Bo's father dies on the boat over and Bo's pregnant mother is not only covered in sores, but gives birth to any extremely disfigured baby girl. Unaffected to the naked eye, Bo carries his wounds on the inside.

The struggles that 14-year-old Bo faces are measured in the fights that he daily wages with classmates. His now 4-year-old sister Orange is unable to speak or walk, and is a source of shame to his family. Orange is kept inside; away from prying eyes that can't begin to understand this deformed monster. But for a boy that doesn't fit anywhere himself, does he understand his sister any better?

When one of Bo's fights is seen by Gerry, Bo finds himself in the world of small town fairs in Southern Ontario and discovers bear wrestling. Gerry thinks Bo would be a natural, and as Bo has been wrestling personal demons all his life, he takes to this bigger challenge with gusto. As he soon discovers though, no number of matches can erase his past.

Kuitenbrouwer paints a sombre picture of Bo and his attempts to make sense of his world. In his disenchanted view, the world is a tough place, but what he doesn't see is the soft spots that lie right in front of his eyes. Bo might feel broken, like many of us do at points in our own lives, but acceptance and perception are everything. There is room for life in all of us, and with her enchanting prose, Kuitenbrouwer encourages us to find our own life alongside Bo as he wrestles bears and all that life has handed him.

Thumbs up in my opinion! Thank you for helping me fall in love with reading again Kathryn.

Committed

"Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage" by Elizabeth Gilbert; ©2010, Viking Penguin

Over the holidays I made a trip to the library with my children. They each selected books and I wandered, looking for one of my own. No book club selections were available, but as I turned from the computer I noticed a rack of books nearby. The name Elizabeth Gilbert jumped out from the cover of a book. Having read "Eat, Pray, Love", I was already familiar with whom Ms Gilbert was. Yes, I was smitten with her tales of food, travel, salvation through meditation, and of course love. I suppose her name alone sold me on the book, just as the large font of her moniker was supposed to. So home I went with this book that suggested a struggle with the very ideals of marriage.

"Committed" picks up where "Eat, Pray, Love" left off. In the former book, Gilbert had fallen in love with a dashing stranger and then tentatively explored possibly finding new happiness with him. This time around though, she was leery of the precepts of eternal devotion, as presented by the tenets of the marriage contract. No, her and her partner had too many scars to ever consider formally stepping into the marital bounds again. That is, until he is arrested at the border, as they try to re-enter the US. He is told that he will not be allowed to come back into the country, until such time as he legally makes the United States his home - via marriage.

The couple is horrified.

While the idea of marriage does not usually elicit dark and gloomy faces from most people, these two still have wounds that make them skittish at the very thought of marriage. It is fine for some, but they had always sworn to never marry, even whilst making claims to be devoted to one another exclusively. Gilbert takes their time in exile from the States to explore marriage, what it meant to her, the people she met on the road and also set herself to discover what more she could unearth about the state of unions throughout history. At times, the tale is almost immature in its insistence of how horrible it all is, but when you look at the stats (just over 50% in the US and just under that mark in Canada), perhaps it is only naive of me to think that there aren't a whole host of others that are as gun-shy of marriage as she is.

As Gilbert delves into historical models of marriage and her understanding of how she thought it was supposed to work, she unearths some interesting facts; like the 50s in the US weren't always chock-a-block full of happy June Cleavers. And as she further discovers, while divorce rates seemed extraordinarily high, those statistics were skewed when comparing first and second-time marriages. In case you were wondering, secondary marriages had much lower divorce rates. I found that interesting from a clinical perspective, but also a personal level. How many of my peers are in the process of separating? Am I not also in a significant relationship that could ultimately lead to a secondary marriage (which I would rather not think of as doomed to failure).

Ultimately, she has some interesting thoughts and facts, but the text left me feeling that she still has a few more demons to banish before she can forgive her past experiences. But then again, don't we all have our skeletons in the closet that we sometimes wish would just disappear? And don't those mistakes and heartaches make us stronger, wiser individuals that are more willing to make decisions for ourselves, which hopefully includes making the decision to accept happiness and love into our lives once again? As you can probably guess, Gilbert did tie the knot once again and stepped into marriage wilfully.

May we all find that peace ourselves.

Still Alice

"Still Alice" by Lisa Genova; © 2007, Simon & Schuster

Dr. Alice Howland is a Professor of Psychology at pre-eminent Harvard University. She travels and speaks all over the world, is active in research and development of psycholinguistics and is highly respected by her students, peers and fellow teachers. She has a loving husband, three highly successful children and is riding high on a successful lifetime devoted to life.

That is until she stumbles one day in the middle of a presentation. She simply cannot find the word she is looking for. While most might miss her transgression, she is flustered by this slip in her normally flawless lectures. She recovers, but is bothered by this unusual turn of events. As the weeks go by, other small incidents occur that rattle her usually confident demeanour. She is 50 years old and has always been the stalwart in the family for remembering every and any small detail. Concerns that perhaps menopause is wreaking havoc with her internal systems, she makes a trip to her family physician. That leads to further tests and other doctors. The ultimate shocking diagnosis is early-onset Alzheimer's.

As the story unfolds, the reader walks the path of confusion that Alice slowly gets ensnared in. It is far worse than confusion though, as more than just words escape her in her steady spiral out of cognitive control. No amount of drugs, hope, wishing or praying can slow this horrific disease as it steals everything that Alice has ever held dear in her life. Genova's heart-breaking telling of the story is sad in its following of Alice's descent into the worst that Alzheimer's has to offer - memory loss, inability to recognize places, words and people, inability to interact in group settings or even perform normal everyday functions (everything from handling money, going out by oneself, to cleaning and grooming one's person). All this at the age of 50 in a Harvard Professor.

My heart broke for Alice, as she struggled to maintain control on the unsteady slope she slid down. I recognized her symptoms, as those that my own grandmother has suffered and shed a tear in understanding the unfairness of it all just that little bit more. No amount of reminding, pressuring, cajoling or humouring truly makes a difference. The neurons fail and they don't come back no matter how much you wish it to be different. It steals who the person was and the loved ones that surround that person are left to cope as best they can, trying to reconcile the person they remember with the damaged soul that is left. It isn't fair to any involved and Genova makes that sadly clear. The point she so saliently makes though is that even as the former personality slips away, the individual is still there and deserving of our respect.

I came to this book through my book club, but I take it with me to heart. I have visibly seen the symptoms Genova describes on the page, but her words helped me to see the disease a little clearer. It doesn't make me feel any better, but the tears I shed helped me to understand a little more.

~Thank you Lisa~

The Night Circus

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern; © 2011 Anchor Canada


I haven't written a book review in a while, but The Night Circus, by Erin Morgenstern is the first book that we will be discussing for my book club's fourth season. The fact that we have been going strong for four years is quite exciting, as none of us really knew what we were getting into when we started this thing. We figured you read a book, drank some wine and chatted intellectually about the fine prose that we were exposed to over canapes. It is something like that, but we talk just as much about our children, jobs and life changes that occur for all of us, as we do about any of the books that we read. That being said, we always get around to the book of the month as well. And I have to say that this book should be a pleasure to discuss.

The Night Circus is Morgenstern's first novel. As I know a little bit about the writing and publishing industries (not enough to be considered expert or even claim a first novel of my own YET!), first novels are often the best that a writer might ever produce. Morgenstern should be proud, as this is a novel that anyone would be thrilled to claim penmanship to. From the first pages, she creates beautiful images that enchant the reader and encourage the pages to turn ever faster. The uncertainty of the world you are entering is replaced by a longing to be able to enter the Night Circus oneself to behold its magnificent exhibits. If only you could wander the Labyrinth, explore the Cloud Maze or hear your fate at the fortune teller. As you are drawn further into the story, Morgenstern convinces you to believe in the unbelievable and trust in your instincts even when the cold hard world tells you not to.

The circus is only one side of this beautiful fairy-tale like novel though. On the surface, this novel is about the fantastical circus acts that beg you to suspend your belief in everything that you see and know. As the story unwinds though, a romance unfolds in the pleats of the tents. Celia is a magician that performs the unbelievable just well enough to keep the audience guessing if what they saw was truly real or indeed magic. Marco is an assistant to the manager of the circus, but seems to be the driving force behind making the circus the spectacle that it is. Both of them hold special gifts and powers that affects everything around them, from people to objects, to a unique relationship that sparks between them. What most people don't realize though is that these two strangers were sworn into a competition years before they ever met; a competition with no solid rules of engagement or understanding of how it will ever end. Not even the players understand the game, but their instructors constantly goad them into ever more spectacular feats to proclaim a victor.

While I won't give away the outcome of this delightful tale, I will share that the imagery Morgenstern paints is more than enough reason for you to pick up this book. She draws you in with her beautiful prose and lets you know that you will be safe for the duration of your reading - probably. If you don't believe me, you could always ask her yourself. She has a website with an attached blog, where she writes 10-sentence flash fiction, entitled flax-golden tales, every Friday. Plus, she will be on Twitter this evening at 9:30pm EST to discuss The Night Circus with the Yummy Mummy Book Club, which I also have to thank as I even won the book in a contest that YMBC hosted. Cool! Just for that alone, I might have to pop in for a tweet!

What about you?

Tuesday Torrents

I have been having a bit of a mental block recently. I have opened my blog up, looked at it blankly and moved onto checking emails, FB, work, etc. Creativity = nada. zilch, nil, nothing. Last night I did some laps in blogland, hoping that perhaps inspiration would hit me, but around about eleven I gave up and shut the computer down. Done like dinner.

You see my brain has been swarming all over the kid's school and the issues that ensued there last week. I have had well-meaning advice from many parties and have been trying to figure out what direction I should proceed in. I don't think that anything will happen again, but I also think that something should be noted on file somewhere. Of course I also worry about stirring the pot and having myself and my children blacklisted as "problems" in our first week of school at the start of a potentially long stretch of learning there. It makes me antsy, itchy, irritated and stressed. Not where I wanted to be; AT ALL. Too bad though, I have to deal with it or let it go unfettered to the wind. 

sigh...

grumble, grumble, grumble

Maybe I should just go and read my book again tonight. The story "We Need to Talk About Kevin" is not quite uplifting, but it is first up for book club this year. It is an interesting novel about the Mother of a teenager that opens fire at his high school killing several people. She is writing letters to the boys Father and recounting their life leading up to the "incident". Good fodder for anyone feeling bad about not wanting to have children and also makes you feel better about any of your own bad parenting days, but I am not sure if I am going to get a feel-good ending out of it. I will keep you posted.

Oh, and I got my bathroom re-painted and it looks FAB-u-Lous! Still working on ironing my shower curtain (Yeah, you should really know by now that I am not that much of a freak - it is cotton [ie. wrinkly] and there is a vinyl shower curtain between it and the water hence an iron IS necessary. No worries; I do have one & even know how to use it despite my Mother's lack of training in that department. For shame, for shame!). Now the rest of the house is absolutely embarrassing beyond belief with the lack of attention it has received since bath renos began. After I re-attach my banister that T ripped out of the wall on the weekend I promise to see if I can find the vacuum. Maybe I will find the floor or even a cat or two? Who know? For now, my book is calling and I bid you adieu. Be well my minions. Go well.

New Look

I decided to shake life up a bit this evening. I added some slight changes to my blog page. New colour (the old one was sophisticated, but making me feel drab and dreary). With Autumn colours brilliant outside, I thought I should add a little more colour to my outside edges too.An additional sidebar list, which I will attempt to keep up to date. Some books on my bedside table have been there a while collecting dust (sorry Farley! No offence Catherine), but others are library books and some temporary feel- good titles (ahh,Khalil!) I have joined a new book club, so will probably have some different titles cross my path in the future. I think this is a good thing, as some of my titles are a little too deep and thought-provoking. A good fiction piece is nice to give the poor brain some much-needed leisure time. My poor journal lives there constantly, but has not seen much attention as of late. It goes in fits and starts sometimes and that is all right. It is time for bed though and hopefully my brain will agree with me and find sleep soon. Fingers crossed!