Now there's a book I really have to read!!!

"I Shouldn't Be Telling You This by Kate White is on my must read list!!  Though she shouldn't be telling you all her secrets, for instance: how she increasedCosmopolitan's circulation per month by half a million copies, or how to use to your advantage "bitch envy". She is giving away her trade secrets, perhaps she shouldn't but in "I Shouldn't Be Telling You This," she is. 

A successful editor of Cosmopolitan magazine brings you a sexy, intelligible if somewhat sassy guide for women in the work force.  Kate White includes advice and strategies from her own experiences in the very demanding and always competitive US magazine publishing industry.  For every career woman, here is the book to help you how to succeed!

Countdown to Requiem....

145 days and counting....

Are you breathlessly awaiting for this finale

 in the Delirium Trilogy?

Marisa de los Santos on Goodreads Forum October 16/12

Some exciting news for you!

Marisa will be answering questions about her newest book from Goodreads members in a special discussion group in celebration of her new book Falling Together. Marisa will answer questions throughout the day Tuesday, October 16, 2012, but you can ask your question right now!

To ask a question or simply read the discussion, join the group! 

Read an Excerpt From Lisa Genova's New Novel: Love Anthony

Love Anthony (Excerpt)

From Lisa Genova's page on Facebook, just hit like and the excerpt will come up.  I've begun reading it today and I must say Lisa's style continues to impress me.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/105717819/Love-Anthony-Excerpt

A Wilderness of Error by Errol Morris

A Wilderness of Error
Author:  Errol Morris
Publisher:  The Penguin Press
Published: September 2012
Edition:  Hardcover
Pages: 544
Category:  True Crime

Source:  Many thanks to TLC Book Tours and the publisher for providing a complimentary copy of A Wilderness of Error.  Receipt of this novel doesn't influence my opinion nor this review.  The opinion expressed here is my own.

Academy Award-winning filmmaker and former private detective Errol Morris examines the nature of evidence and proof in the infamous Jeffrey MacDonald murder case

Early on the morning of February 17, 1970, in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, Jeffrey MacDonald, a Green Beret doctor, called the police for help.  When the officers arrived at his home they found the bloody and battered bodies of MacDonald’s pregnant wife and two young daughters. The word “pig” was written in blood on the headboard in the master bedroom. As MacDonald was being loaded into the ambulance, he accused a band of drug-crazed hippies of the crime.

So began one of the most notorious and mysterious murder cases of the twentieth century. Jeffrey MacDonald was finally convicted in 1979 and remains in prison today. Since then a number of bestselling books—including Joe McGinniss’s Fatal Vision and Janet Malcolm’s The Journalist and the Murderer—and a blockbuster television miniseries have told their versions of the MacDonald case and what it all means.

Errol Morris has been investigating the MacDonald case for over twenty years. A Wilderness of Error is the culmination of his efforts. It is a shocking book, because it shows us that almost everything we have been told about the case is deeply unreliable, and crucial elements of the case against MacDonald simply are not true. It is a masterful reinvention of the true-crime thriller, a book that pierces the haze of myth surrounding these murders with the sort of brilliant light that can only be produced by years of dogged and careful investigation and hard, lucid thinking.

By this book’s end, we know several things: that there are two very different narratives we can create about what happened at 544 Castle Drive, and that the one that led to the conviction and imprisonment for life of this man for butchering his wife and two young daughters is almost certainly wrong.  Along the way Morris poses bracing questions about the nature of proof, criminal justice, and the media, showing us how MacDonald has been condemned, not only to prison, but to the stories that have been created around him.

In this profoundly original meditation on truth and justice, Errol Morris reopens one of America’s most famous cases and forces us to confront the unimaginable. Morris has spent his career unsettling our complacent assumptions that we know what we’re looking at, that the stories we tell ourselves are true. This book is his finest and most important achievement to date.

My Review:

I don't read many true crime books, I think this is my second and The Innocent Man by John Grisham was my first.  As far as true crime goes, A Wilderness of Error was a very interesting read.  From descriptions of the crime scene, sketches of the scene, interviews with witnesses and lawyers, A Wilderness of Error entices one to question the integrity of the prosecution that sent MacDonald to jail.  Errol Morris is convinced of his innocence and this true crime book does a good job of portraying the evidence in a manner that leaves the reader agreeing with him.  With the evidence supplied and the testimonies and interviews, Errol Morris presents a plausible case for dismissal of the charges.  

"Wherever he steps, wherever he touches, whatever he leaves -- ever:  unconsciously--will serve as a silent witness against him.  Not only his fingerprints and his footprints, but his hair, the fibers from his clothes, the glass he breaks, the tool mark he leaves, the paint he scratches, the blood or semen he deposits or collects.  All of these and more bear mute witness against him.  This is evidence that does not forget.  It is not confused by the excitement of the moment.  It is not absent because human witnesses are.  It is factual evidence.  Physical evidence cannot be wrong.  It cannot perjure itself; it cannot be wholly absent.  Only in its interpretation can there be error.  Only human failure to find, study, and understand it can diminish its value." (page 20)

Physical evidence was abundant; however it is obvious it was incorrectly interpreted.  Items were moved during the initial investigation.  Evidence was walked upon and some destroyed.  Inexperience played a role in this for sure but the problems go deeper.  It would seem the prosecution played a role in inhibiting the defence in having access to evidence.  The defence lawyers were allowed to view some of the evidence as it was boxed up and kept in a jail cell.  Their repeated requests for full disclosure were ignored and then later denied.  What?  How can this be?  Isn't that interference?  Possibly contempt?

And the list grows and grows.  A botched investigation, a biased judge and an uncooperative prosecution team were the start. MacDonald had described one of the four individuals he said were in his home that evening.  A woman with a blonde wig, knee high boots and a floppy hat.  Funnily enough, the military police responding to the scene recalled seeing a woman of that description standing on a corner in the rain as they drove by at around 4am.  She was also spotted in a donut shop with blood on her.  Neighbours saw her arrive early in the morning with a group of others and she was dressed in the same fashion.  She even confessed!  Not in court, of course, but to a police officer for whom she was an informant in drug cases and to others as well.  

At this time, many of the witnesses, even the woman, Helena Stoeckly, herself, have died.  Murdered perhaps in the case of Helena Stoeckley.  I was flabbergasted to read of all the obvious clues that were overlooked or brushed under the proverbial carpet.  What happened to justice?  When a man is attacked in his own home with a knife to his lung, collapsing it; other injuries evident and his wife and two daughters are brutally killed how does the law turn this on him?  How does one stab himself in exactly the right spot, so very near to the heart as to be impossible even for a surgeon to do so without error, to collapse a lung but not kill?  How very near MacDonald was to death and the horror of hearing the screams for help from his own children and his wife, the tragedy of it all, the loss of a family; how does one convince him/herself of his guilt?  

Errol Morris covers all the bases, in-depth, with evidence to back up his conclusions.  He convinced me.  You'll have to read A Wilderness of Error for yourself to see if you are convinced too.  If you like true crime, enjoy watching crime television shows, fancy yourself as an investigator of truths; you will not be disappointed with Errol Morris' presentation of this case as A Wilderness of Errors.  I certainly wasn't.

Errol Morris is a world-renowned filmmaker—the Academy Award-winning director of The Fog of Warand the recipient of a MacArthur genius award. His other films include Mr. Death, Fast Cheap & Out of Control, A Brief History of Time, and The Thin Blue Line.

Find out more about Errol Morris at his website, and follow him on Twitter.

Giller Short List Announced

Have you read any of these?  Who would you vote for to win?

Kim Thuy Speaks About the Life of A Writer and Her Book Ru

Another Bookstore Closes Its Doors for Good

I was saddened this morning to hear the news that a local bookstore, Greenwoods Bookshoppe, located on Whyte Avenue, Edmonton; will be closing its doors for good this coming Saturday (October 6/12).  Its closing, however, is not an indicator of the economy but rather a sad loss of a business partner, her brother Brad.  Gail, the proprietor of Greenwoods Bookshoppe, writes a touching letter of notification to all her customers, authors, sales reps and staff acknowledging them for their continued support.  

Following 33 years of business, years of author signing, growth and many good memories, it is with sadness we say goodbye to Greenwoods Bookshoppe.  I wish you well Gail and thank you for the memories.

The entire letter is found on the store's main page at:  http://www.greenwoods.com/index.php.  Won't you stop by, if you are in the area, in the next few days to say a fond farewell to Gail and her staff for the many wonderful years of providing literary excellence in our fine city.

The End of Your Life Book Club Trailer

The End of Your Life Book Club is our October spotlight at work.  I definitely have to read it!

The Shoemaker's Wife by Adriana Trigiani

The Shoemaker's Wife
Author:  Adriana Trigiani
Publisher:  Harper Collins
Published: August 2012
Edition: Trade Paperback
Pages: 496

Source:  Many thanks to TLC Book Tours and the publisher for providing a complimentary copy of The Shoemaker's Wife.  Receipt of this novel doesn't influence my opinion nor this review.  The opinion expressed here is my own.

The fateful first meeting of Enza and Ciro takes place amid the haunting majesty of the Italian Alps at the turn of the last century. Still teenagers, they are separated when Ciro is banished from his village and sent to hide in New York’s Little Italy, apprenticed to a shoemaker, leaving a bereft Enza behind. But when her own family faces disaster, she, too, is forced to emigrate to America. Though destiny will reunite the star-crossed lovers, it will, just as abruptly, separate them once again—sending Ciro off to serve in World War I, while Enza is drawn into the glamorous world of the opera . . . and into the life of the international singing sensation Enrico Caruso. Still, Enza and Ciro have been touched by fate—and, ultimately, the power of their love will change their lives forever.

A riveting historical epic of love and family, war and loss, risk and destiny, inspired by the author’s own family history, The Shoemaker’s Wife is the novel Adriana Trigiani was born to write.

My Review:

The Shoemaker's Wife is based upon the author's family and their story of immigration to the United States.  Adriana Trigiani's story begins in the mountains of Italy, a place of serene beauty and wonderful fragrances.  In a small village a young child is buried, Enza's sister, and a young boy employed to dig the grave, finds himself consoling Enza.  There is something between the two of them and their meeting ends in a kiss.

Years later, Enza remembers that kiss and though she and Ciro have met again, the timing is never right and she pines for her unrequited love.  Ciro, on the other hand, is blind to the effect he has on Enza and it is not until years later, when he returns from war, that he realizes Enza is the love of his life.  Call it good timing or coincidence, but he just happens upon the chapel immediately before Enza is about to wed another.  Dressed in his army uniform, dirty and underweight, he professes his love to Enza.  Finally!

"Enza knew that if she married Vito, she would lose her Italy forever. Even if she could have braved the ocean, Vito would hope to show her the island of Capri......not the mountains, lakes and rivers of the north.  She was from the land of the mandolin, the exquisite violins of La Scala were not hers to claim.

If Enza was going to create a new life, she had to build it with conviction, on her own truthful terms, with a man who could take her home again, even if it meant a new home of their own invention and not the mountain.  Ciro had her heart, he was her portion of the mountain.

....if she took Ciro on, she was in for a struggle compared to her life with Vito, but the love of all loves was worth it.  (page 314)

They marry shortly thereafter and make a life together in Minnesota where Ciro works as a shoemaker and Enza takes in sewing.  It is not the glamorous life Enza was becoming accustomed to in New York where she and her best friend Laura sewed costumes for the Metropolitan Opera.  It is not always easy but they have each other.  Love abides with them and the birth of their son Antonio is a great blessing.

As I was near the end, the tears running freely, I felt that yes, this is what a good writer does.  She/he draws out the intensity of emotions in the reader.  The characters are so well developed that it's as if you were there in person, witnessing their lives.

There is a lot of sorrow in The Shoemaker's Wife, a lifetime of separation from loved ones, but there is joy and though the ending of the book is not what the reader would expect, it still resonates with the heart.

Adriana Trigiani is an award-winning playwright, television writer, and documentary filmmaker. The author of the Big Stone Gap series; Very Valentine; Brava, Valentine; Lucia, Lucia; The Queen of the Big Time; and Rococo, she has also written the bestselling memoir Don’t Sing at the Table as well as the young adult novels Viola in Reel Life and Viola in the Spotlight. Her books have been published in thirty-six countries, and she has written and will direct the big-screen version of her first novel, Big Stone Gap. She lives in New York City with her husband and daughter.

Adriana's website: www.adrianatrigiani.com, like her on Facebook, follow her Twitter account.