It was a two book weekend

I had the best time getting lost in two novels last weekend. Both had to do with the secrets of families.  Both were the kind of reading that reminded me of being a kid and taking a book with me everywhere, even in the boat on the lake.  Why I wanted to be transported from a beautiful lake in Minnesota is beyond me, but stories had way too big of a pull to keep me planted in that boat with nightcrawlers and picnic baskets of fried chicken.  Right now I'd give anything to be back on that boat.  But then?  Give me a book and I was happy!

Ellen Baker is a Minnesota writer who has just published her second novel "I Gave My Heart To Know This".  What I like about it is how in-depth Ellen goes into WWII and the roles that women had (in Superior, Wisconsin) as welders and workers while the men were off to war.  She shows these women with all their strengths and weaknesses.  And believe me, they have both of these, in spades.

"I really loved reading this powerful and poignant book, which, though it acknowledges pain, regret and remorse, ultimately is a celebration of life.” —Elizabeth Berg, author of Once Upon a Time There Was You and Open House

The other book I read "Maine" by J. Courtney Sullivan, also told the story of a complicated family.  A family shrouded in secrets.  The Kelleher's are a big clan of Irish Catholics who have never quite gotten over the death of their patriarch, Daniel.  Where once they gathered together and celebrated (with their fighting and bickering of course) now the family barely interacts with each other, even splitting the summer months up at their cabin in Maine instead of all going there together.

“Sullivan beautifully channels Alice through her memories…The dialogue sizzles as the tension between the women’s love and anger toward one another tightens…You don’t want the novel to end.” –The New York Times Book Review

 Ellen Baker is my guest this week on Realgoodwords, and J. Courtney Sullivan will be later in August. Tell me about your summer reads!

This week on Realgoodwords

What kind of books do you look for in the summertime?  This week on Realgoodwords we've got some new books, fiction and non-fiction, that might be right up your alley. 

"Wild Bill Donovan:  The Spymaster Who Created the OSS and Modern American Espionage" by Douglas Waller.  Waller is a former Newsweek and Time magazine reporter who has put together the story of Wild Bill Donovan.  Donovan was the man Franklin Roosevelt tapped to be his spymaster in WWII - who created the first national intelligence agency in the U.S.  Donovan is descrived as an exciting and secretive general who introduced this nation to the dark arts of covert warfare on a scale never seen before.

Diane Chamberlain's latest novel is more of a summer beach read, "The Midwife's Confession".  The 'story of friendship and the corrosive power of secrets'.  Booklist wrote "The frankness of each scene and character should grab readers and keep them eagerly turning pages right up to the startling climax."

Dr. David Anderegg is the author of the newly updated book "Nerds:  How Dorks, Dweebs, Techies and Trekkies Can Save America *And Why they Might Be Our Last Hope".  Here's a cool Nerd quiz you can take:

The Last Nerd Self-Test You’ll Ever Need!

1. Are you sometimes so enthusiastic about your interests that you get carried away, and lose your self-consciousness in your passion for your subject?

2. Do you believe that people can be beautiful and smart at the same time?

3. Do you sometimes get interested in a book or a hobby that’s really difficult to get into, but you do it anyway because it seems like such a cool thing to learn?

4. Do you like precision or exactitude, maybe even so much that a right answer is an aesthetically pleasing experience?

5. Do you find tracking what’s fashionable just a teensy bit boring?

6. Do you admire people who are very knowledgeable even if their topic is a little arcane?

7. Don't you just love the word “arcane”?

8. Do you enjoy vivid imaginative accounts of alternatives to mundane reality?

9. Are you comfortable with the fact that Harry Potter wears big spectacles and is also a big athletic hero?

10. Do you find anti-intellectualism just a little bit….stupid?

If you answered yes to all of the above, award yourself 100 points. You win! You are a big fat cool American post-nerd. You are totally comfortable with yourself because you have finally moved beyond the ridiculous social categories of middle school! If you scored less than 100, however, or even if you did score 100 but have friends who are still living in the Dark Ages, you need to read my new book, NERDS: How Dorks, Dweebs, Techies, and Trekkies Can Save America...and Why They Might Be Our Last Hope.

Hockey, journalism & all that rubbish!

This week on Realgoodwords Bryan Gruley is back with his sequel to "Starvation Lake"....it's called "The Hanging Tree". Gus Carpenter is at the center - and this time he is trying to figure out why exactly his cousin Gracie was found hanging in a shoe tree.

I've never SEEN a shoe tree in real life, but I've heard about them. Roadside America calls them the greatest embodiment of the American Spirit you can find on the highway. Hmm. Really?

Gruley's "The Hanging Tree" just begins with this bit of great American spirit.... but what follows is a fascinating look at the passion of a Michigan hockey town and the complexities of journalism in a small town. Bruce DeSilva of the Associated Press says it’s “an exceptionally well-written novel by an author who has mastered the conventions of his genre.”

Also this week I talk with the British bestselling author Harriet Evans. Her new novel is called "I Remember You" and it's what some people might call "chick-lit" but what I call a mini-vacation. In our conversation this week, Harriet and I talked about how books in this genre can be overlooked because of quaint covers or because they aren't written by men. "I Remember You" has been called "A fabulous feel-good love story of friendship lost and love regained’ by Woman and Home.

Speaking of Realgoodwords, a couple of times during our conversation Harriet used the word "rubbish". I think I may have found my new favorite word! It's useful in so many ways!

Don't have time to read? RUBBISH?

What do you have to take out when you get home? RUBBISH!

Can't remember if you renewed your membership to KAXE? RUBBISH!

There's no rubbish this week on Realgoodwords.

Maddi Frick's summer reading and interview on Realgoodwords this week!

What I read on my summer vacation
by Maddi Frick

The books I have most enjoyed this summer, after The Picture of Dorian Gray, were two books by New York Times Bestselling author Gail Carriger, Soulless and Changeless. I read the first in under 24 hours, and then made my dad stop at the Village Bookstore to pick up the second, which I promptly finished in another 24 hours. And no, I didn’t finish them so quickly because they’re a quick read; I literally could not put them down.

Ms. Carriger’s novels follow Alexia Tarabotti, an unmarried, quick-witted, pragmatic lady living in Victorian England. She also has no soul. The novels are set in a world where werewolves and vampires have somewhat assimilated into high society, yet proper manners are still a must.

I wouldn’t call this series a derivative of the still-strong vampire/ supernatural craze sweeping the nation, although vampire popularity may have helped these novels become so popular so quickly. I sense no whiff of epic teenage “love-me-or-I-will-die” histrionics usually found in every book in the Young Adult book section in Target (I challenge you to find a book there without black on the cover or lurking vampires within its pages).

No, Ms. Carriger has succeeded in writing a more enjoyable novel of the supernatural, dabbling in humor, sci-fi steampunk, mystery and romance. Not only were the books delightful to read, so was Ms. Carriger to interview. We talked about her inspirations, personal rules and upcoming projects; the third in the series, Blameless, releases September 1st. Listen in this Wednesday at 6pm CT to Real Good Words to hear my interview with Gail Carriger.

BONUS- I have a tendency to make my own playlists for things and I made one for researching for this interview; here it is!

Wishing He Was Dead - The Like

100 Years From Now - Karen Elson

The Tale of Two Doves - A Whisper in the Night

Body And Soul - Billie Holiday

The Great Exchange - Thrice

Novocaine for the Soul - Eels

Vampires - Fastball

You’ve Changed - Sia

A Change Would Do You Good - Sheryl Crow

Werewolf - Cat Power

A Tree Grows in Brainerd

It's amazing sometimes, what words and stories can do. They can take you away, they can make you more present and they can shape a life.

I recently interviewed Randy Susan Meyers about her debut novel, "The Murderer's Daughter". It's a book I really enjoyed and I was excited to talk with her about it. But something happened in that conversation - we got talking not just about her book - but about what books can mean to us. And about how we can mark the moments in our lives by the books we read. Suddenly, I forgot that I was interviewing an author, and it felt like Randy and I were the best of friends, passionate about the same things.

Here's a little of what she said:

"Reading was probably the most stabilizing influence in my entire life. My sister and I were both tremendous readers - we both went to the library almost daily. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn was incredibly influential to me. To read about/from the point of view young girl who loved her father but whose father was very destructive to the family - that meant an enormous amount to me."

And just like that, I remembered reading "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn". A book that a girl who grew up in Brainerd, Minnesota might not connect with. Except that, when I read it, as a freshman at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, I was new to a big city, and I had just started my first "real" job. This job was as a newspaper clipper. Which is what Francie, the main character of "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" does. And that did it, I was pulled into this story, and it automatically became a part of who I was then. And now, I can perfectly remember what it felt like to read it.

Randy went on to say, in our conversation, about how books can transport us back to the times in our lives when we read them:

"I can say right off the top of my head the worst break up ever - I was reading White Oleander and Poisonwood Bible. In Cold Blood kept me from ever staying alone in the country."

You can hear our whole conversation here.

What books were influential to your life?

Need a good summer read?

I'm featuring a summer read I really enjoyed this week on Realgoodwords, "The Truth About Delilah Blue" by Tish Cohen. It's the story of a woman who finds out that her parents have both been lying to her. She believed she was abandoned by her mother but she finds out her father took her away from her life to a new one with a new name in California. Neither parents are perfect but they both love her.

What draws you to a summer read? Or does that term not matter a bit?

Summer Vacation Reading

Do your reading tastes change by season? Are there "beach reads" for you?

Maybe you are a mystery reader? Romance?

I'm headed off on a road trip this week and here's my odd mix of books that I'm taking for reading material....(I overload JUST IN CASE there's a book emergency of some sort)

"The Friday Night Knitting Club" by Kate Jacobs

The unpublished manuscript of Aaron Brown's first book

"Dedication" by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus

"Lake Superior's Historic North Shore - A Guided Tour" by Deborah Morse-Kahn

"Up for Renewal - What Magazines Taught Me About Love, Sex, and Starting Over" by Cathy Alter

"Shining Big Water - the Story of Lake Superior" by Norman K. Risjord

What are you reading this summer? Send me some suggestions!