A Launch Party AND a Review - Carole Bumpus, A Cup of Redemption

Carole Bumpus unveiled her debut novel, A Cup of Redemption, last Saturday night at Kepler's.  I was pleased to be there.  And you can see some pictures at the end of the review.  But, first, let me tell you what A Cup of Redemption is about and what I thought of it.

Here is the Goodreads blurb:

Like the braiding of three strands of brioche, the lives of three women Sophie Zabel Sullivan, Marcelle Pourrette Zabel, and Kate Barrington become inextricably intertwined as each struggles to resolve issues from past wars that have profoundly impacted their lives. Sophie believed her childhood nightmares were safely behind her once she married and moved to the U.S. from France until she is called to her mother, Marcelle s, deathbed to honor one final request: Search for my father! Search for Pourrette! Born on the last day of World War I, Marcelle, whose life epitomizes the human cost of war, never knew her father, yet carried the Pourrette name, along with the shame of illegitimacy, as did her two oldest sons born during World War II. Enlisting the expertise of a friend and family therapist, Sophie encourages Kate to join her in France to help find her grandfather scour the stain of illegitimacy from her family s name. Unbeknownst to Sophie, Kate s 34-year-old illegitimate daughter, given up for adoption during the Vietnam War, has recently reappeared. Kate, struggling with her own shame and guilt, pushes aside her feelings to join Sophie in France. Rising out of the collateral damage wrought by war, A Cup of Redemption is a touching story about love, loss, and the search for identity."

I liked Cup.  It's different from just about anything else I have read.  I have to admit that I made an immediate connection to Marcelle, who the reader finds out is dead in the 1st 4 lines of the book.  After I read the stories about her with Sophie and Kate, I felt a little bit of loss.  Crazy.  

The story is mostly about Sophie looking for answers to a lot of questions about her parents and her siblings.  But Kate's self-exploration plays a big part too.  There are a ton of characters, and it would have been confusing - except that Carole has a List of Characters at the front of the book with 26 names on it.  It's important to refer to that list on a regular basis so as not to say "Now, who's that again?"  Or even "Who's that?"  Most books don't need that list, but this one does.

Carole's writing is very good.  In describing Kate's 1st meeting with her husband, he says to her:  "Even from far away, I can hear your smile."  That's pretty darn romantic.  And when Kate talks about her children, she says:  "Two of her own children hadn't launched well and kept returning as if on bungee cords."  That's quite a visual.  

Again, keep your eye on the List of Characters, and you will enjoy this book.  Another strong debut novel from another local author.  As I've said many times before, the Bay Area is loaded with good solid authors.  

And some pictures from the launch:

A very nice spread of French food (with wine) before the formal part of the event began

Just a part of the large crowd

Carole being introduced by Nicole, from Kepler's

A New Review for Your Reading Pleasure

G. (Gail) Elizabeth Kretchmer's book, The Damnable Legacy of a Minister's Wife, has a very interesting premise.  The narrator is Beth Mahoney, who just passed away 6 months ago.  Beth, and her husband, Ryan, were mountain climbers.  Beth's dying wish is for Ryan to climb Denali, in Alaska, which is the highest peak in North America.  The real reason is that she wants Ryan to tell another climber, Lynn Van Swol, that 13-year old Frankie is really Lynn's granddaughter.  And Frankie's mother, Raina, is the baby that Lynn gave away for adoption at birth.  Confusing?  Not really.

This is a book with a lot of pieces.  But, despite that, I didn't have any trouble staying with the stories (which must mean that Gail did a masterful job!).  And although I'm not a big fan of the otherworldly in fiction, unless it's scifi or fantasy, I had no trouble believing that Beth was actually hovering above Ryan, Lynn, Frankie, Raina, et al, commenting on all that was happening.  I'll believe anything, if it's done well.  And this, just like The Lovely Bones, was done well.

There were a couple of other features in this book that I enjoyed.  One was learning some things about mountain climbing.  If you know me at all, then you know that there couldn't be anything I know less about than mountain climbing!  And there's lots I don't know anything about.

I also got a kick out of a scene fairly late in the book which related to Joni's (my wife, in case you didn't know) maternal grandfather.  He was sponsored by a cousin to come over to America, through Ellis Island, from Europe.  His cousin met him, took him to a park bench, told him he was going to get him some food, turned and left, and didn't come back.  A kindly stranger ended up taking him in.  This was similar to one of the characters in Gail's book.  That was cool to read.

The last thing to mention is that I now understand why Gail and Chris Mason (author of Boundaries:  A Love Story, which I reviewed earlier this month) toured together.  Although each of their books couldn't be more different in terms of the theme, they end up having a very similar feel to them.  I consider them to be companion novels.  And I recommend both.

2 Author Events - in Pictures (that might mean less words - are you excited?)

I have already been to 2 author events this week.  And I say "already" because I've got 2 more to go!  This is what I call a "dream week."  

To the matter at hand.  Monday night, I went to Books, Inc. in Palo Alto to see Christine Z. Mason, author of Boundaries:  A Love Story (our April, 2015 RBC author), and G. Elizabeth Kretchmer, author of The Damnable Legacy of a Minister's Wife.  They have been touring together.  And, interestingly enough, they have helped write each other's books and have emailed and spoken many times.  But this tour is the 1st time that the 2 authors have actually met.  Gail lives in Seattle while Chris is right here in the South Bay.  

It was an enjoyable evening.  They both read from their books and introduced each other. Gail told us all something that was very interesting.  She is the mother of 3 adopted boys, of which 2 have the same mother.  One of Gail's main protagonists, 13-year old Frankie, has a mother who was also adopted.  Obviously, Gail has a unique perspective on this subject.

You know, we talk a lot about genres (well, at least I do).  They call their books mainstream literary fiction.  I can get behind that.  Here, then, are some pictures from the evening.

G. Elizabeth Kretchmer (Gail)

Christine Z. Mason

Gail had a drawing for a book bag giveaway 

And then, last night, we had our 2nd Recycle Book Club meeting at, not surprisingly, Recycle Books.  Considering it was the 6th game of the World Series, it was a very good turnout.  Shelly King, who wrote The Moment of Everything, was our featured author. She came around 7:15 (after our group had discussed the book for about 45 minutes) and answered a bunch of questions.  Then she signed books.  It was another fun book club evening.

MILESTONES, Upcoming Events, This and That (and, no, I didn't accidentally put "milestones" in all caps)

Hi all,

It's time for some of that very important category known as This and That.  In no particular order (except for #1):

1.  Yesterday, I reached 50,000 pageviews on my blog since I started it almost 4 years ago (Jan., 2011).  it's funny because I never looked at that number until a couple of days ago.  For some reason, I was checking out my stats earlier in the week, and that number jumped out at me.  I was kind of blown away.  Now, many (if not most...perhaps all) of my esteemed blogger colleagues have surpassed this number by multiples.  And I don't know how good that number is divided by years and months and days.  But, nonetheless, I think it's a very cool big number.

2.  There are a few upcoming author events that I intend to be at.  Just to let you know, they are -
     a.  Monday, October 27, Books, Inc., Palo Alto, 7:00 - Christine Z. Mason,
          author of Boundaries:  A Love Story, and G. Elizabeth Kretchmer, author
          of The Damnable Legacy of a Minister's Wife.  I have recently read both (I
          posted a review of Boudaries earlier this week and will post a review of Legacy
          this weekend) and liked them both a lot.
     b.  Saturday, November 1, Kepler's, 6:30 - Carole Bumpus will be launching her
          new book, A Cup of Redemption.  I am 100 pages in and also like it very much.
     c.  Wednesday, November 12, Village House of Books, 7:00 - John Lescroart will
          be coming to talk about/read from his latest, The Keeper.  I booked John many
          months ago, while I was still working at Village, and am looking forward to
          finally meeting him.  (We attended Cal Berkeley at the same time in the late
          '60's.)

3.  HarperCollins came out with a list of 44 independent bookstores in the country that everybody should visit.  3 of them are in our area - The Booksmith, San Francisco, Dog-Eared Books, San Francisco, and Henry Miller Memorial Library, in Big Sur.  I have to admit that I haven't even heard of the last 2, although I do think The Booksmith is a neat bookstore.

4.  This coming Tuesday night, October 28, we will be having our 2nd Recycle Book Club (RBC) meeting at Recycle Books, in Campbell.  Shelly King will be coming to answer questions and sign her book, The Moment of Everything.  Our book club meets from 6:30-7:15, and then Shelly will come at 7:15 and stay until around 8:15.  Even if you're not a member of our book club, any/everybody is welcome to come and talk about the book with us or just stop by to see the author.

5.  And, finally, after 4 consecutive Sundays when I wasn't at Recycle for the Farmer's Market, I'm going tomorrow!  Hurray!  I love being there chatting about books with everybody.  If you're there, stop by.  I would love to say hello.

That's it.  I'm done rambling.  At least for the moment.  Don't get used to it.

A Visit from Garth Stein to Rakestraw Books - An Educational Evening - Who Knew?

Last night, Garth Stein, author of The Art of Racing in the Rain (you can see my review 2/11/11), came to Rakestraw Books in Danville to talk about his new book, A Sudden Light.  As you all (ad nauseum) know, I go to a lot of author events.  My normal haunting grounds are Kepler's, Books, Inc. (Mt. View and Palo Alto), Book Passage (Corte Madera), and, of course, Village House of Books.  Last night was only my 3rd time at Rakestraw.  But I have to say that it was memorable.  Why would that be, you wonder? When Garth was only doing what so many other authors have done?  Namely, read from, and promote, their books?  Well, here's the difference:  Garth actually taught me something.  In fact, he taught me several somethings.  And his book is fiction.  If it were non-fiction, I guess you could say that you would expect to learn something.  Here are some very interesting facts I learned from last night:

1.  King County (where A Sudden Light takes place) is named after William Rufus King. He holds the distinction of having the shortest vice-presidential run in our history - 17 days.  And then he died.  But do you know what other distinction he holds?  He was the long-time, well-known lover of president James Buchanan.

2.  Back in the 1800's, there were a quite a few male gay relationships that went uncommented-on.  There is a rumor that Abraham Lincoln had 4 very close male friends. It was never determined if these were gay relationships or not.  But word is they well could have been.

3.  Seattle's modern-day history begins in 1851, but it wasn't until the late 1800's that it became a civilized area.  Prior to that, it was wild.

4.  Garth is a very close friend of Erik Larson (author of In the Garden of Beasts, one of my top books of 2011, and Devil in the White City).  In fact, Garth has the edge over Erik in tennis (Garth's description of his advantage was a bit more colorful than mine!).

5.  Garth is also a good friend of Jamie Ford who, of course, has written 2 books that I loved - Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet and Songs of Willow Frost.

6.  Garth looks a little bit like Todd McClellan, coach of the Sharks.

Okay, the last 3 aren't exactly historical facts, but I thought they were interesting nonetheless.

Most importantly, with a crowd of about 50 there, Garth was very engaging.  He made an appeal to support local businesses and engage in community discourse before he ever started talking about his book or himself.  He's enthusiastic and connects with the audience.  And his entire talk is off the cuff.  None of it sounds rehearsed.  All in all, a very fun evening.  And worth the 1:45 minute drive to get there! (but only 45 minutes to get home).  I'm putting A Sudden Light near the top of my TBR pile.

2010 - The Last Year for Non-Blog Recommendations

Okay, sports fans, this is it.  The demand for this final year of recs has been overwhelming!...okay, nobody really seems to care.  But, despite that, I'm still giving you the books that I recommend from the 66 I read in 2010.  And there are 24 of them, with a bunch being new authors/choices.  Here we (i.e. I) go:

W.E.B. Griffin - The Honor of Spies - #5 in the Honor Bound series - not my
     favorite series of his, but I still recommend it
Lee Child - Running Blind - #4 Jack Reacher
Alex Berenson - The Midnight House - #4 John Wells
Jodi Picoult - House Rules - 1st of 4 Picoult's for this year
Kathryn Stockett - The Help - excellent book
Harlan Coben - Caught - a re-issue of one of his early books - still darn good
Keith Thomson - Once a Spy - a real surprise for me - very cool premise
David Benioff - City of Thieves - loved this book - it's on my table at Recycle
     every Sunday - strong recommendation
Stieg Larsson - The Girl Who Played with Fire - #2 of the trilogy - as good as #1
Nelson DeMille - The Lion - #5 in the John Corey series
Sam Eastland - The Eye of the Red Tsar - #1 in the Inspector Pekkala series -
     another surprise hit for me - I've read 3 of the 5
Daniel Silva - The Rembrandt Affair - #10 Gabriel Allon - love this series
Jodi Picoult - Keeping Faith
David Rosenfelt - Dog Tags - Andy Carpenter #8
Stieg Larsson - The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest - #3, and last - people
     said it wasn't as good as #1 and #2 - I don't agree
Nicholas Sparks - Safe Haven - did you think I wasn't going to have one of
     his on my list? - too bad for you Hard-Hearted Hannah's
Sheldon Siegel - Perfect Alibi - #7 in the Mike and Rosie series
Ken Follett - Fall of Giants - #1 in the Century Trilogy - truly outstanding
     (#2, Winter of the World, is in my top 12 all-time - #3 is out now -
     haven't read it yet)
Jodi Picoult - Songs of the Humpback Whale - yep, even this one makes the
     list
Joel Rosenberg - The Twelfth Iman - #1 in The Twelfth Iman series - loved
     his 1st series too - The Last Jihad
Harlan Coben - Play Dead
Steve Berry - The Emperor's Tomb - #6 in Cotton Malone series
Jodi Picoult - Mercy
Ann Patchett - Run - everybody knows Bel Canto, but this is one of my
     favorites from Patchett

That's it, people.  All done.  Never again.  No more recommendations.  Yeah, right.

Another Baldacci. Ho Hum, Right? Not So Fast.

I have read somewhere between 1/2 million and 3/4 million David Baldacci books.  Okay, it's more like 25.   But a lot.  Wish You Well is in my top 12 all-time.  I absolutely loved The Camel Club series and a whole bunch of his standalones.  I'm not a big fan of the King & Maxwell series and just recently decided to can it, even though I had the latest one in my TBR pile.  Now we come to #3 in the Will Robie series.

Book 1 is The Innocent.  It's mostly about Will Robie, a 40-something assassin who is working for the government, and Julie Getty, a 15-year old runaway, who form a very unlikely partnership.  I really really liked this book.

Book 2 is The Hit.  This is Will and Jessica Reel, a fellow assassin, who are pitted against each other and end up collaborating.  I liked this one, but not nearly as much as book 1. Because I loved the relationship between Will and Julie.

Book 3 is The Target.  This is Will and Jessica AND Julie.  I'm much happier now.  I like Jessica more this time, and am very happy that Julie gets a bigger role.  In fact, just about every sequence that has Julie in it produces tears for me.  I don't know what else to say about that.  Julie is a character that I care about more than almost any other character in fiction.  Crazy, no?

The plot is basically unimportant, just like it is for most series.  But that doesn't mean that I don't have anything to say about the book (big surprise there, eh?).  Because I do. Occasionally, I like to list the parts of a book that I like.  I'm going to do that here.

1.  Lots of twists and turns.
2.  Even though you know that the main characters will come out of this okay, he makes you worry.
3.  He gives a great evaluation of the CIA infrastructure that really helped me, at least, better understand the organization.
4.  He has a couple of very significant mini-plots that are almost stories-within-stories.
5.  There's 1 sub-plot in which a foreign government plants a spy many years in advance of the denouement (ok, come on - how cool of a word is that?).  It reminds me of Silva's The Unlikely Spy and Alex Berenson's The Faithful Spy (do you, perhaps, sense a theme here?).
6.  There's a character named Lloyd Carson.  Do you know how many times I run across my name in books?  That's almost never.

I admit that #6 is a bit bogus, but the other 5 are all strong features for me.  And this book is a solid 3.5/4.  It's not quite at the level of The Camel Club, but it's getting close.