Between the lines

Jung, Gaiman, Murakami or Krauss. Whatever symbolically falls from the bookshelf and hits Scarlet on the head…

Non-fiction

What Matters Most ~ Leading a More Considered Life (James Hollis, Ph.D) SN: Highly recommended! Another insightful read is The Eden Project: In Search of the Magical Other 

Hollis guides readers in uncovering the heart of the matter, discovering what it means to truly live life to its fullest, most meaningful state—as fully engaged citizens of the world. (Amazon editorial review)

By the same author: Why Good People Do Bad Things: Understanding Our Darker Selves SN: As with all Hollis books, highly recommended. Indeed we are our own worst enemy. Read when you’re ready to take responsibility for your shadow!

Hollis offers wisdom to help you acquire a new level of awareness to your daily actions and choices. Exploring the Shadow is important to our growth because it helps us repair inner fractures and explore what forces are working against us, and why. Hollis also looks at the larger picture of the Shadow at work in our culture —in history, religion, organizations, and corporations— in addition to its presence in our personal live.  (goodreads)

No Plot? No Problem! ~ Chris Baty SN: Easy read and helpful suggestions… sign up for NaNoWriMo 2011

The key is to lower your expectations “from ‘best-seller’ to ‘would not make someone vomit,’ ” says Baty, who maintains that stress and a deadline are important parts of writing. Aimed at the nonserious, with an emphasis on summoning creativity and having a life-changing experience, this original approach will appeal to anyone up for a challenge. (Amazon editorial review)

The George Carlin Letters: The Permanent Courtship of Sally Wade ~ Sally Wade         SN: beautiful, romantic…like a lover’s scrapbook. Ohhhh, wait, that gives me an idea!

A unique illustrated memoir by Wade, the love of Carlin’s life for ten years, The George Carlin Letters is a collection of never-before-seen writings and artwork by the late great comedian… The book provides a rare glimpse into the man behind the legend. Carlin wrote to Wade daily—notes, postcard, letters… he even started fights on paper; the title is taken from his very last note, which shee found propped up on her computer upon returning from the hospital the day he died. One of the greatest love stories ever told…no one but Wade has ever seen this side of Carlin. And everyone is guaranteed to fall in love with both of them. (Amazon product description)

The Kiss ~ Kathryn Harrison SN: Harrowing truth like a 9mm in the mouth. Bravely and beautifully executed – couldn’t stop reading. And when I did, I wept.

Harrison‘s novels, including Exposure (1993) and Poison (1995), are rooted in a deep and abiding sorrow, and now readers learn its source. Controversial even before its publication, this exquisitely written and emotionally wrenching account of her love affair with her father is an act of astounding courage, integrity, and catharsis. Harrison‘s parents were teenagers when they married, and she was less than a year old when they divorced, a breakup encouraged by her high-handed maternal grandparents, who, after her selfish and unloving mother moved out, ended up raising her. Her father, a preacher, remained a distant and enigmatic figure until she left home for college, then he surged into her life like a biblical plague. Starved for love, Harrison became utterly enthralled by her father’s terrible hunger, and was, for all intents and purposes, lost to the world. This is a riveting memoir, a tightrope walk performed with grace and daring. As Harrison exorcises her demons, she reminds us that it’s a thin line between love and possession, sanity and madness. (Booklist review by Donna Seaman)

Fiction

Love of Seven Dolls ~ Paul Gallico  SN: Too early to say… (*sigh* kinda given up – not a good sign)

A young girl called Mouche is about to throw herself into the Seine, when her attention is attracted by a voice. It turns out to be the voice of a glove puppet, called Carrot Top. She then meets Reynard the fox, Gigi, Alifanfaron, Dr Duclos, Madame Muscat and Monsieur Nicholas. The story is about her relationship with the seven puppets and their grim puppetmaster, Capitaine Coq, and what happens when she joins their travelling show.  (goodreads)

The Telling ~ Miranda Seymour SN: Spine tingling… inspired by real lives (truth stranger than fiction?)

A noted biographer of Robert Graves, Seymour goes one fictional step further, skillfully transforming a fragment of his time in America with the poet Laura Riding into a luminous but chillingly tenebroud tale of malice, marital insecurity and ordinary madness…. The atmosphere of intimated dread is flawlessly realized. (Sunday Times London)

Notes on Extinction ~ Janice Deaner SN: Can’t put it down! Am even reading in the bath… beautifully written. Have also read ‘Where Blue Begins‘ which I’d also recommend. 

Will Mendelsohn is a modern-day Charles Darwin whose first book has made him wealthy. In order to begin his magnum opus, a massive work on extinction, he sets off on a worldwide research trip. He makes a special visit to Assam, a state in northeast India, so he can spend time with his mother’s friend Mim, a Holocaust survivor in frail health. But once he meets Mim’s enigmatic neighbor, a married expatriate screenwriter named Grace Tagore, Will’s brief stop turns into an extended stay. As he and Grace are drawn together by their haunted pasts into a transformative affair, Assam erupts in political turmoil, setting off an irrevocable chain of events that forever alters their lives. (goodreads)

If You Can’t Live Without Me, Why Aren’t You Dead Yet?! ~ Cynthia Heimel SN: F**king bloody brilliant – laughing out loud, in the bath, with a hangover. Yes, that good!

Cynthia Heimel has been described by the Chicago Tribune as “perhaps our funniest war correspondent on the war between the sexes“; her wisdom on dating includes such gems as: “My new rule is to never believe a person is interested until you feel his tongue down your throat.” If You Can’t Live Without Me, Why Aren’t You Dead Yet?! shows Heimel at her wicked best. When sex pales in comparison to watching sports, when ostensibly adult men still don’t understand why women need to work, when city-chic black and arugula salads have been taken over by Middle America, Heimel is there to remind us that if we can’t remake the world (or even the loved ones who are driving us crazy), we can at least laugh at it. Like a hip Erma Bombeck or a Dorothy Parker for today, she is an antidote to an absurd world for smart, sane women… “Brilliant, ballsy … wise and loving … She makes me feel militantly on my own side. What pleasure; what relief.” ~ Mademoiselle (Amazon product description)

Altar Ego – Kathy Lette SN: trashy pulp fiction, in turns witty and harrowing as commitment phobic parallels illuminate my own bad behaviour.  Read it ‘n weep… 

“Query. Would it be a serious breach of etiquette to run out on my own wedding?” This is the question Becky Steele asks herslef as she clings to the window ledge of her parents’ bathroom, grimly regarding the ten-foot drop into the dustbins below. She stares in disbelief at the meringue dress for which she has drunk only skimmed water for four weeks to fit into. Why can’t Becky commit to Julian, human rights lawyer, and her Knight in Shining Armani? Yes, Julian’s the right man. But has she had enough wrong ones? (goodreads)

Exposure ~ Kathryn Harrison SN: Spellbinding tale of a woman on the brink of a breakdown. Absolutely un-put-down-able… 

Ann Rogers appears to be a happily married, successful young woman. A talented photographer, she creates happy memories for others, videotaping weddings, splicing together scenes of smiling faces, editing out awkward moments. But she cannot edit her own memories so easily–images of a childhood spent as her father’s model and muse, the subject of his celebrated series of controversial photographs. To cope, Ann slips into a secret life of shame and vice. But when the Museum of Modern Art announces a retrospective of her father’s shocking portraits, Ann finds herself teetering on the edge of self-destruction, desperately trying to escape the psychological maelstrom that threatens to consume her. (goodreads)

I Wrote This For You ~ pleasefindthis SN: If you are going to buy one book this year, let it be this. Why? Because it was written with YOU in mind. 

“I need you to understand something. I wrote this for you. I wrote this for you and only you. Everyone else who reads it, doesn’t get it.”

Started 2007, I Wrote This For You is an acclaimed exploration of hauntingly beautiful words, photography and emotion that’s unique to each person that reads it. This book gathers together nearly 200 of the most beautiful entries into four distinct chapters; Sun, Moon, Stars, Rain. Together with several new and exclusive entries that don’t appear anywhere else, each chapter of I Wrote This For You focuses on a different facet of life, love, loss, beginnings and endings. (central avenue publishing)