I’m Back! BEA Day 1 Report

I’m back from BEA in New York and all rested up and ready to share my experience with you. I’m going to start with last Monday, which was the BEA Bloggers Conference.

The conference started with a Networking Breakfast. Lunch worked the same way but was called Let’s Talk Blogs! Networking Luncheon. It was really speed dating with authors. You picked a table to eat at with about eight other bloggers and every ten or fifteen minutes another author would rotate to your table. Each meal three or four authors would rotate through per table. Supposedly these authors were also bloggers and would use their time to talk about blogging with the bloggers at the table. This didn’t happen. The author would use most of the time to plug his or her new book and then answer any questions the bloggers at the table had about his or her new book. The only time we talked about blogs was when there wasn’t an author at our table. I really appreciated being able to meet fellow book bloggers and I learned a lot from talking to them. I could have actually done without the author networking though.

After breakfast, Jennifer Weiner gave the Keynote Address. I have mixed feelings about her talk. She made some good points about how women’s fiction isn’t taken seriously by the New York Times and other big book review outlets but some of it came off as her being bitter that her books aren’t taken more seriously. Moreover, her talk had almost nothing to do with blogging.

Next up was a panel discussion called Blogging Today: What you need to know and what’s next. I found this panel informative and helpful. Jen Lancaster was on the panel and I LOVE her. Another panelist was Candace from Beth Fish Reads, one of my favorite book review blogs. She had some good tips about diversifying your blog content to gain readers.

The breakout sessions were after lunch. The first one I went to was called So You Want to Make Money? According to the panel in this breakout, you can’t really make any money book blogging. Not enough to make a full-time job out of it anyway. (My dreams of being a millionaire book blogger were crushed!) They did have some interesting ideas about packaging blog content and charging for it. For example, making an e-book that compiles your reviews for your top twenty books of the year and then charging 99 cents for it. The panelists disagreed on whether or not people would actually be willing to pay for something like that.

The next breakout I attended was Demystifying the Book Blogger & Publisher Relationship. I enjoyed this panel and was quite surprised and pleased to see how much respect the panelists from the publishing industry have for book bloggers.

Jenny Lawson, The Bloggess, gave the Closing Remarks. She was hilarious, of course. I’m sure she was chosen to speak because she is a blogger who was able to basically turn her blog into a very successful book.

Overall, I was disappointed with most of the conference. It seemed like the organizers didn’t have a good understanding of who the attendees were or at least not the same understanding that I had of who they were. Every blogger I met at the conference was a book REVIEW blogger. Not a blogger like Jen Lancaster or Jenny Lawson who is wanting to turn their blog INTO a book.

I came expecting to learn more about how to write good book reviews, book blogging ethics and etiquette and things of that nature. The breakout sessions were great and had the sort of content I was expecting. The other events were mainly about promoting authors and their upcoming books. I shouldn’t have to pay for a conference if it’s going to be mostly advertising to me – they should be paying me! I’m glad I went for the experience and because I met a lot of really great book bloggers but I don’t know if I’ll go again. The focus would have to shift dramatically for me to consider it.

Guest Post from Steve Wiegenstein, author of Slant of Light

I’m so pleased to have a guest post from Steve Wiegenstein, the author of Slant of Light, today. I reviewed Slant of Light yesterday. Welcome to the Chaos Steve!

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I like writing about utopian communities, not because they are strange, but because they are familiar. I believe many of us carry the seed of the utopian in us.

Let’s start with the personal. A lot of people, myself included, have individual self-improvement projects on one burner or another, front, middle or back. (I almost said “everybody has an individual self-improvement project,” but then I remembered that there are those fortunate or deluded souls who think everything in just hunky-dory with themselves.) We’re going to drop a few pounds, we’re going to exercise more regularly, we’re going to write a thousand words every day . . .

And then there are those who take that self-improvement project a step further. We see them at the gym filling out their workout charts after every machine. They’re the ones posting photographs on Facebook of every low-fat, high-fiber vegetarian dish that they have so carefully crafted and eaten. The desire for self-improvement has become a quest for perfection, an obsession, a refusal to accept the entropic tendency that we are all heir to.

Take the next step—what’s good for me is also good for you—and then you’re starting down the road to something, whether it’s motivational leadership, preaching, setting up an ideal living arrangement, or simply being the crank who writes letters to the paper. The urge to improve is so basic that it’s easy to forget where self-improvement merges into general improvement, and where general improvement moves from “my humble opinion” to “this is a self-evident truth.”

So when I write about a utopian community, I’m not seeing people who are strange or different. I’m seeing people who have taken that same instinctive response we all experience when we come up with a great idea—You’ve got to try this! It’s great! It works!—and put it into genuine practice, in their own lives and in the lives of their fellow believers. We are all utopians, in some corner of our hearts.

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Thank you so much for stopping by Steve – great post!

Book Review: Slant of Light

Slant of Light by Steve Wiegenstein

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Publisher’s Description:

Inspired by dreams of building a utopian society, James Turner, a charming writer and lecturer, Charlotte, his down-to-earth bride, and Cabot, and idealistic Harvard-educated abolitionist, are drawn together in a social experiment deep in the Missouri Ozarks. With Civil War looming, they are confronted with the hardships of building and sustaining a new community while staying neutral in an increasingly divided country. As love, longing, and betrayal, renegades, slave-catchers, and soldiers threaten to destroy their dreams, they discover that even the loftiest of ideas are at the mercy of politics and personal desire.

I chose this book because I live in Missouri and I thought it would be fun to read and learn about Missouri’s history during the time of the Civil War. Because James Turner’s utopian community, Daybreak, was somewhat isolated from the outside world the book wasn’t overloaded with historical facts. It had a good balance between the plot within Daybreak and the happenings of the outside world that inevitably creeps into life at Daybreak.

The characters are what really drives this novel. The three main characters – James, his wife Charlotte, and their friend Adam, start out as starry-eyed idealists, hoping that Daybreak will be the community of their dreams. When they start to see that reality and forces beyond their control will make building and maintaining Daybreak a struggle, we start to see their flaws. I liked that these characters were multi-dimensional and certainly not perfect. They made mistakes but I was able to sympathize with them and keep liking them.

I have to mention that since I Iive on the Missouri side of the Missouri/Kansas border, I thought this line from the beginning of the book was hilarious: “Politics was a game for reasonable men, and Kansas was no place to be reasonable.”

This book gave me a lot to think about and I was still mulling it over several days after reading it. Could a utopian community ever really work? Would we want it to? What would the purpose be? When James Turner tries to explain to someone that the purpose of Daybreak is to set an example for those around them, the man responds, “In other words, if I walk among murderers and thieves, my moral obligation is simply to avoid being a murderer and thief myself so that they may profit by my example.” Is that enough – what is the obligation of the members of an utopian community to the outside world? This book would be a great book club selection with these and so many other issues to discuss.

This book is published by Blank Slate Press, a small, independent publisher. Because of that I think it needs – and deserves! – some help in getting a buzz going about how good it is. I highly recommend Slant of Light. Get it, read it, talk about it. Spread the word!

Come back tomorrow to read a guest post from author Steve Wiegenstein.

Thank you to TLC Book Tours for providing me with a copy of this book. Check out the other tour stops:

Monday, May 14th: Unabridged Chick
Wednesday, May 16th: WV Stitcher
Monday, May 21st: Life in Review
Wednesday, May 23rd: So Simply Sara
Thursday, May 24th: Bookish Habits
Monday, May 28th: Historical Tapestry – guest post
Tuesday, May 29th: A Novel Source
Thursday, May 31st: Life is Short. Read Fast.
Wednesday, June 6th: Just One More Paragraph
Saturday, June 9th: Colloquium

Buy this book at:
Amazon Kindle Store Powell’s Books

BEA or Bust

I’m heading to New York City today for the annual BookExpo America. It’s my first time attending BEA and I’m really excited. I won’t have time to blog about the show in real time but I will be sure to have detailed posts about my adventures when I get home. I WILL be live tweeting during my time there providing my crappy cell phone works in the convention center. You can follow me on Twitter by clicking here: Follow @ChaosIsAFriend

If you are also going to BEA and want to meet up, please tweet or DM me. If you’ve been before and have any last minute tips for me, feel free to leave them in comments. I have a couple of reviews scheduled for this week so my blog won’t be totally silent. Ready or not, here I come!

Giveaway: Another Piece of My Heart

Tuesday I reviewed Another Piece of My Heart by Jane Green. I have an extra copy of the audiobook that I would like to giveaway to one of my lucky readers with a US mailing address. Just fill out the form below by 11:59pm CST on June 7th. Good luck!

Book Review: The Chaperone

The Chaperone by Laura Moriarty

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Publisher’s Description:

Only a few years before becoming a famous actress and an icon for her generation, a fifteen-year-old Louise Brooks leaves Wichita to make it big in New York. Much to her annoyance, she is accompanied by a thirty-six-year-old chaperone who is neither mother nor friend. Cora Carlisle is a complicated but traditional woman with her own reasons for making the trip. She has no idea what she’s in for: Young Louise, already stunningly beautiful and sporting her famous blunt bangs and black bob, is known for her arrogance and her lack of respect for convention. Ultimately, the five weeks they spend together will change their lives forever.

For Cora, New York holds the promise of discovery that might prove an answer to the question at the center of her being, and even as she does her best to watch over Louise in a strange and bustling city, she embarks on her own mission. And while what she finds isn’t what she anticipated, it liberates her in a way she could not have imagined. Over the course of the summer, Cora’s eyes are opened to the promise of the twentieth century and a new understanding of the possibilities for being fully alive.

The Chaperone is a great work of historical fiction. From what I could gather with some quick Googling, Moriarty’s version of Louise Brooks and the events in her life that are represented in the book are factually accurate, which I appreciated. I liked how Louise influenced Cora in some positive ways and was not just a one-dimensional trouble maker as she could have been easily portrayed. The author did a great job of capturing the inner struggle that Cora feels as the times are changing around her and she has to decide if and how much she is willing to change with them.

Even though Louise Brooks is the famous, real-life character in this book, the focus of this book is Cora. I couldn’t believe how many times the author surprised me in telling Cora’s story. Her upbringing, her marriage, her life after she came back from New York – the development and evolution of Cora’s character was truly amazing. I don’t want to say too much more because I really enjoyed going on Cora’s journey with her and letting her continue to reveal unexpected aspects of her life to me as the book went on. (I’ve noticed that some of the other reviews of this book out there on the web are very spoilery so be careful out there!)

This is the first book of Moriarty’s that I’ve read and I highly recommend it. I’m looking forward to reading more from her.

Thank you to TLC Book Tours for providing me with a copy of this book. Check out the other tour stops:

Tuesday, May 1st: Sophisticated Dorkiness
Wednesday, May 2nd: bookchickdi
Thursday, May 3rd:From Left to Write
Friday, May 4th:Rayment’s Readings, Rants and Ramblings
Monday, May 7th:Frenzy of Noise
Thursday, May 10th:Bewitched Bookworms
Friday, May 11th:The Well-Read Wife
Monday, May 14th:Fire and Ice
Tuesday, May 15th:Book Journey
Wednesday, May 16th:Babbling About Books and More
Thursday, May 17th:Workaday Reads
Friday, May 18th:Verb Vixen
Saturday, May 19th:Midnight Book Girl
Wednesday, May 23rd:Kritters Ramblings
Wednesday, May 23rd:Misbehavin’ Librarian
Thursday, May 24th:Literate Housewife
Friday, May 25th:Paperspines
Monday, May 28th:Sassymonkey Reads
Monday, May 28th:Never Too Fond of Books
Tuesday, May 29th:Picky Girl
Thursday, May 31st:An Unconventional Librarian
Friday, June 1st:The 3 R’s: Reading, ‘Riting, and Randomness
Friday, June 1st:An Avid Reader’s Musings
Date TBD:The Compulsive Reader

The Chaperone will be released on June 5th. You can pre-order it at:
Amazon Kindle Store Powell’s Books

Book Review: Another Piece of My Heart

Another Piece of My Heart by Jane Green

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Publisher’s Description:

Andi has spent much of her adult life looking for the perfect man, and at thirty-seven, she’s finally found him.  Ethan–divorced with two daughters, Emily and Sophia–is a devoted father and even better husband.  Always hoping one day she would be a mother, Andi embraces the girls like they were her own. But in Emily’s eyes, Andi is an obstacle to her father’s love, and Emily will do whatever it takes to break her down. When the dynamics between the two escalate, they threaten everything Andi believes about love, family, and motherhood—leaving both women standing at a crossroad in their lives…and in their hearts.

The first part of this book is told with third person narration from Andi’s point of view. Her marriage to Ethan is basically perfect except when it comes to dealing with Ethan’s spoiled seventeen-year old daughter Emily. Emily’s behavior is abhorrent; she throws tantrums like a two-year old child because she is jealous of the attention that Ethan shows to Andi. Ethan feels so guilty about divorcing Emily’s mother and not spending enough time with Emily that he lets her get away with murder. I actually felt really stressed out reading about Ethan and how he dealt with Emily. I wanted to reach in and shake Ethan and tell him to grow a pair!

About a third of the way in, the narration switches to first person from Emily’s point of view. I think this is done to help the reader generate some sympathy for Emily because up until that point I had none. It does help but Emily is still so selfish that it’s really hard to feel bad for her. Also, I had to wonder if a seventeen year old was capable of being as introspective as Emily is at times. From this point on the narration switches back and forth between third person Andi and first person Emily. It sounds strange but it worked for the most part.

Emily makes a huge mistake (I can’t say what without spoiling the story) that impacts her whole family and puts even more strain on Andi and Ethan’s marriage. This book and the relationships between its characters were so tense and strained that I felt tense just reading it. It could have used a lighter sub-plot or something to take some of the pressure off. It did seem to be a genuine portrayal of the stresses involved in a blended family though.

Just as with every other Jane Green novel I’ve read, the editor seemed to make no effort to help Green with her American characters’ dialogue. The characters in this book are all American, living in California but speak like Brits a lot of time – saying things like “proper” and “have a go”. I guess I should come to expect this since this is the third Jane Green book I’ve read and the other two have had the same problem. It still bugs me though.

I listened to the audio version of this book which was narrated by the author herself. I thought this was a really odd choice because Jane Green is British. I think that a book that takes place in America should be read by a narrator with an American accent, just like a book that takes place in England should be read by a narrator with a British accent. Green’s narration gave all of the American characters British accents and she didn’t vary her voice between characters much at all. It was very distracting. She also read at a very slow and dramatic pace which I think added to the stress of reading the book. It was filled with enough natural tension that it didn’t need a dramatic narration.

I think die-hard Jane Green fans will probably like this book but if you are new to her I think you should pick a different book of hers to start with.

Buy this book at:
Amazon Kindle Store

(I received this book courtesy of the Amazon Vine program.)

2012 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award

Amazon and Penguin Group ( USA ) Announce Six Finalists for 2012 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award

Amazon.com customers can vote for their favorites and choose the grand prize winners in the general fiction and young adult fiction categories at www.amazon.com/abna

Winners to be announced at a special awards ceremony in Seattle on June 16

SEATTLE & NEW YORK & CHARLESTON, S.C.—May 22, 2012—Thousands of entries poured in for the fifth annual Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award (ABNA) contest – and after several rounds of judging, six finalists have just been announced in the international competition sponsored by Amazon.com, CreateSpace and Penguin Group (USA). From now until May 30, Amazon customers can read excerpts from the finalists’ works and vote for their favorite novel to determine the winners in both the general fiction and young adult fiction categories at www.amazon.com/abna. Based on customer votes, two grand prize winners, one in each category, will receive a publishing contract from Penguin Group (USA) which includes a $15,000 advance. This year’s ABNA winners will be revealed at a special awards ceremony in Seattle on June 16, 2012.

“This year’s ABNA contest saw thousands of submissions from talented writers around the world,” said Nader Kabbani, Director of Independent Publishing, Amazon. “According to the judges and editors, the quality of the entries continues to climb, making the contest more competitive each year. The finalists this year are among the best yet and Amazon.com customers will have a challenge picking a favorite.”

Tim McCall, Penguin Group ( USA ) Vice President of Online Sales and Marketing said, “Penguin prides itself on the relationships we have with our authors. We are thrilled that this contest allows us to be able to offer talented writers an opportunity to be published at Penguin, and we look forward to connecting these writers to new readers.”

An expert panel from the publishing world will also weigh in with comments on the finalists’ work to help voters make their selections. The literary experts for the 2012 general fiction portion of the contest are: Linda Fairstein, best-selling author of the Alexandra Cooper novels, including “Night Watch” (available July 2012); Anne Sowards, Executive Editor of The Berkley Publishing Group; and Donald Maass, literary agent and author of “The Breakout Novelist.” Panelists for the young adult fiction titles include: Andrea Cremer, best-selling author of “Nightshade,” “Wolfsbane” and “Bloodrose;” Regina Hayes, President and Publisher of Viking Children’s Books; and Charlie Olsen, literary agent for InkWell Management.

The three finalists in the general fiction category (listed in alphabetical order by author’s last name) are:

“The Beautiful Land” by Alan Averill, Seattle , Washington
Averill, a former “video game script doctor,” wrote a draft of “The Beautiful Land” as a part of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), a movement that challenges writers to complete a novel in thirty days. “The Beautiful Land ” is a story of two people in love from the moment they met but destined to be apart forever. Thanks to a time machine and a mysterious invention buried deep in the Australian Outback, they now have one more chance to get it right.

“Grace Humiston and the Vanishing” by Charles Kelly, Scottsdale , Arizona
Kelly, a former reporter at the Arizona Republic , discovered the story of Grace Humiston, “the feminine Sherlock Holmes,” deep in the archives of the New York Times. Her story, particularly her work on a case to find a missing girl in 1917, became the basis for the novel. When a teenage girl from a wealthy family disappears, Humiston leads an investigation that takes her through the sewers of police corruption in New York City to the slave and prostitution trading ports of Argentina.

“A Chant of Love and Lamentation” by Brian Reeves, Oregon City , Oregon
Reeves, a former Peace Corps volunteer, spent ten years perfecting his novel. “A Chant of Love and Lamentation” reflects the struggle for Hawaiian identity and the sovereign movement. A cab driver sets off a sequence of events by blowing up a grand Waikiki hotel to strike back at the forces that have long suppressed Hawai’i . As the islands slide farther into strife, three men fight to hold onto a Hawai’i that once was, or push it towards its ultimate destiny.

The three finalists in the young adult fiction category (listed in alphabetical order by author’s last name) are:

“Dreamcatchers” by Cassandra Griffin , Kamloops , British Columbia
Twenty-eight-year-old Griffin is a true geek at heart, enjoying anything from Star Trek expos to comic conventions on her days off from driving 400 ton dump trucks in Northern Alberta . In her post-apocalyptic novel “Dreamcatchers,” WW III has come and gone, the divide between the rich and the poor has widened, and children now move in the world between waking and dreaming.

“Out of Nowhere” by Rebecca Phillips, Middle Sackville , Nova Scotia
Phillips has been writing young adult novels since the age of 12 and now has two children of her own. In “Out of Nowhere,” hypochondriac Riley finds herself haunted by her father’s death. When she meets and falls for the skateboarding, daredevil Cole, Riley begins to forget her problems at home until her mother announces two major changes and Riley lashes out.

“On Little Wings” by Regina Sirois, Olathe , Kansas
Sirois was born and raised outside of Kansas City . She minored in creative writing, but never found the right inspiration for a story until she became the mother of two little girls. “On Little Wings” is her first novel. In it, sixteen-year-old Jennifer’s discovery of an aunt she never knew existed reunites her family and provokes love and forgiveness.

The Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest is co-sponsored by Amazon.com, Penguin Group (USA) and CreateSpace. For the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest Official Rules and to read finalists’ excerpts, and vote for the winning novels, please visit www.amazon.com/abna.

Sunday Salon: Polygamy Edition

This week my reading had an unexpected theme – polygamy. It started when I picked up Carolyn Jessop’s Escape. She was married to one of the leaders of the FLDS cult that was raided in Texas in 2008. She made her escape before the raid though. It was the May pick for the non-fiction book club at my church. I really enjoyed the book (my review will be out soon) and finished it in record time. Then it turned out that I couldn’t go to the book club meeting. I was still intrigued by Carolyn’s story and discovered that she wrote a follow-up book after the Texas raid called Triumph so I grabbed that from the library and devoured it as well.
Even after reading those two books in a row, I wanted to read more about polygamy but I wasn’t sure where to go next. I found The 19th Wife on my TBR shelf. It’s a combination historical fiction/modern day murder mystery. The historical fiction part involves Ann Eliza Young, Brigham Young’s 19th wife. I think it will be good but I’m having trouble getting into it. I suspect it’s because I’m more in the mood to read another real-life memoir involving polygamy. I don’t know what it is about the lifestyle that has me so intrigued but I can’t get enough! If you have any suggestions about which books I need to put on my polygamy reading list, please let me know.

I also discovered yesterday that the TLC reality show Sister Wives is streaming on Netflix. I have watched an embarrassing number of episodes already and plan to watch even more today. (I had surgery Thursday so I do have an excuse for being a couch potato this weekend!) I like that there isn’t a lot of drama, at least not so far. I don’t like reality shows with tension and yelling. The wives seem to all get along really well. However, it bothers me that the show and Kody and his wives gloss over the theology behind their belief in plural marriage. I enjoy seeing how they live their day-to-day lives but I also want to know more about their faith and why plural marriage is an important part of it.

How’s your weekend going – any unexpected themes emerge for you this week?

Givaway: Signed Copy of The Chaperone

I just finished reading The Chaperone by Laura Moriarty and I loved it. My review will posted on May 30th. In the meantime, I’m excited that the publisher has generously offered a PERSONALIZED/SIGNED copy of the book for me to giveaway to one of my readers with a US or Canadian address. I’ll take entries until 10:00am CST on May 31. Just fill out the form at the end of this post. Good luck!

Publisher’s Description: