Ciao until October

Rome, Florence, Venice, Pisa, Verona, Lake Como
Pasta, gelato, Chianti

I am off to Italy with a writer friend.  Poor Ray shall hold down the fort, and hope for a t-shirt.
I shall bore you with pictures when I return and shake off the jet lag.  Stay well, my friends.

Ciao
Joanne

Book Review: China Dolls by Lisa See

It’s San Francisco 1938: “A world’s fair is preparing to open, a war is brewing overseas, and the city is alive with possibilities.” (cover blurb)  Grace, Helen, and Ruby, all from varied backgrounds, meet as dancers in the Forbidden City nightclub. Through challenges and shifting fortunes, their friendship is tested. “When their dark secrets are exposed and the invisible thread of fate binds them tighter, they find the strength and resilience to reach for their dreams.” (cover blurb) 

China Dolls by Lisa See shows a world of wealth, poverty, and prejudice. San Francisco’s hills are alive with love and luck, or after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor the atmosphere shifts to one of suspicion and fear of Asians.  Our young heroines, Grace, Helen, and Ruby, must overcome paranoia and work together. They all learn about friendship and life.  

Lisa See writes a lively tale with endearing characters. These girls have family scars, but gumption in a changing world. For Grace on her bus trip from Ohio, “each new state I passed through loosened another rope around my heart, my legs, my arms, yet my whole body ached, and I couldn’t shake my vertigo.”(p.3)  Helen must break free from an overprotective family and risk bringing them dishonor. Ruby is a free spirit that hides deep secrets. These China Dolls are fragile, and yet up to the task.

 

 

Book Review: The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness

The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness is the finale to a great trilogy.  In A Discovery of Witches and Shadow of Night, we meet Diana Bishop, a woman finally learning about her witch powers. She’s a timewalker and a weaver – that’s a powerful combination. Falling in love with Michael Clairmont has proven problematic since he’s a powerful vampire from a strong family. However, together they demonstrate that love conquers a lot. Now the key mystery book and missing pages from Ashmole 782 again binds them to a daring finish to a battle of vampires, daemons, and witches.  

Returning from Elizabethan England, Diana and Michael face new enemies – many who are related and have even inherited his blood rage. Diana’s pregnancy adds a new urgency to the family lineage, as witches and vampires line up to question the powers of the upcoming children. Palatial homes, university laboratories, and rich libraries from Auvergne to Venice provide the backdrop for a chase, a mystery, murders, and a joyous birth. Harkness deepens “her themes of power and passion, family and caring, past deeds and present consequences.” (cover blurb) 

The All Souls Trilogy is rich in language and lore, with an intermingling of characters from the past. Harkness herself is a weaver – she casts a spell in her pacing and intrigue.  “Matthew and I were an alchemical marriage of vampire and witch, death and life, sun and moon. That combination of opposites created something finer, and more precious than either of us could ever have been separately. We were the tenth knot. Unbreakable. Without beginning or end.”  Read the series and rejoice in rooting for Diana and Matthew in the final Book of Life.

Old Broads Waxing Poetic Cast: Sunday

In honor of Old Broads Waxing Poetic book launch  www.amazon.com/dp/1500642800
I am featuring the cast of poets.  A grand finale on Sunday - Fran Fischer

http://fishducky.blogspot.com/

I've saved our liveliest most senior poet for last in my tour of Old Broads. Fran Fischer is a pip - and that's a word I don't dole out to just anyone. In getting to work on this compilation, I've had the joy of reading her poems and marveling at the humor and zest for life. I bet she keeps California on its toes - you can tell from her energy level. She's a fighter with a zing.

Please check out her blog, buy her books, and enjoy the poems she shared in Old Broads Waxing Poetic. We're gonna need a volume two, just to have Fran do Odes to 85, 90, 95, and 100. Cheers to you, kid!

Old Broads Waxing Poetic Cast: Saturday

In honor of the Old Broads Waxing Poetic book launch  www.amazon.com/dp/1500642800
I am featuring the poets.  Saturday - Delores Lowndes

She's a newfound friend from the north - oh Canada. Her poems look to the past, present, and future and whether it's a dusty road or a peek into the kitchen, she brings a warmth and a hearty soul to her word pictures. Her bio claims curmudgeonly, but I don't believe it.

 Enjoy the twinkle in her voice and the calm in her poems and writing - http://ramblingsoftheterminallyaging.blogspot.com/     The blog is a joy and the poems in Old Broads Waxing Poetic speak for themselves.

Old Broads Waxing Poetic Cast : Friday

In honor of the Old Broads Waxing Poetic book launch  www.amazon.com/dp/1500642800 ,
I am featuring our cast of poets.  Friday - Liza Carens Salerno

It's Liza with a Z, not Lisa with an S - I admit I had a heck of a time as I set up and formatted the book. Had to be super careful to get this author's name correct. But, now that I've read her poems and enjoyed her blog  http://middlepassages-lcs.blogspot.com/   she is Liza from MA and her work speaks to me.

Tight images - waves on the lake, pounding surf at the beach, or wind rustling through trees, and the sound of a train whistle in the distance. She captures a mood, and you can feel the outdoor temperature as you peruse her work. I absolutely love her title Ocular Spring and what it presents.

So, please meet Liza Carens Salerno on her blog, and via her poems in the Old Broads Waxing Poetic collection.






And as a side note, Stephen T. McCarthy won the free copy. His posts on Susan Swiderski's blog gave quite a tale of two old broads. Congrats to Stephen.

Old Broads Waxing Poetic Cast: Thursday

http://www.rawknrobyn.blogspot.com/

In honor of the Old Broads Waxing Poetic book launch  www.amazon.com/dp/1500642800
I am featuring the poets this week.  Thursday - meet Robyn Engel

Her Life by Chocolate blog is extremely entertaining. You never know what will greet you - a wacky interview, a description of her time with Cheryl Strayed (Wild) at a conference, or a reason to dive into chocolate. She describes herself as feisty, and a lot of her poems live up to that adjective.  She strikes me as a dreamer and a realist - yes that's possible. I met her through this Old Broads project, and I am a fan. Please check out her blog and her poems. She is never dull, and that's a very good thing.