Review: A Field Guide to Awkward Silences by Alexandra Petri

Expected publication:
June 2, 2015 by NAL

"Those were the two things I knew about myself: that I was a writer, and that I didn’t mind looking stupid.” (p.3) As a result, Alexandra Petri easily has enough  material probably for many more essays than are in this book. From pun contests to whistling contests to learning how to drive and more, she tackles some of the weirdest moments in her life.

The selection of essays turns into almost a loosely organized coming of age story, where the age is after college and not too sure one is a grownup. The essays are mostly good fun. I mean who doesn’t love a Star Wars nerd? Even if you don’t love Star Wars, you will understand because “Everyone has one erroneous belief that gets him through the chilly February mornings of the soul.” (p.149)

Seriously funny in many parts, gently humorous in others, the essays are autobiographical in nature.  This is my first exposure to her writing and I have to say I really enjoyed it. There is one sad story in it, but she even manages to put a little spin on that.

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars for the quality of writing and for the humor. Also In spite of being a collection of essays, there is a pace which propels the reader forward at a good pace. I’d recommend it for those who like Jenny Lawson’s Lets Pretend This Never Happened and books by David Sedaris. Looking forward to its release in early June so I can get a hard copy for my daughter’s birthday. I’ve enjoyed an ARC on my Kindle to prepare this review. And as such, the quotations may or may not be in the final copy or in a different place.

Waiting on Wednesday #81 - Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson

"Waiting on Wednesday" is a weekly event hosted by Jill over at Breaking the Spine where we spotlight upcoming releases we are eagerly anticipating. 

Expected publication: September 22, 2015
by Flatiron Books

This week the book I am waiting on the most is Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson aka The Bloggess.

Synopsis from Goodreads.com: 

For fans of David Sedaris, Tina Fey, and Mindy Kaling-the new book from Jenny Lawson, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller LET'S PRETEND THIS NEVER HAPPENED...

In LET'S PRETEND THIS NEVER HAPPENED, Jenny Lawson baffled readers with stories about growing up the daughter of a taxidermist. In her new book, FURIOUSLY HAPPY, Jenny explores her lifelong battle with mental illness. A hysterical, ridiculous book about crippling depression and anxiety? That sounds like a terrible idea. And terrible ideas are what Jenny does best.

According to Jenny: "Some people might think that being 'furiously happy' is just an excuse to be stupid and irresponsible and invite a herd of kangaroos over to your house without telling your husband first because you suspect he would say no since he's never particularly liked kangaroos. And that would be ridiculous because no one would invite a herd of kangaroos into their house. Two is the limit. I speak from personal experience. My husband says that none is the new limit. I say he should have been clearer about that before I rented all those kangaroos."

"Most of my favorite people are dangerously fucked-up but you'd never guess because we've learned to bare it so honestly that it becomes the new normal. Like John Hughes wrote in The Breakfast Club, 'We're all pretty bizarre. Some of us are just better at hiding it.' Except go back and cross out the word 'hiding.'" 

Jenny's first book, LET'S PRETEND THIS NEVER HAPPENED, was ostensibly about family, but deep down it was about celebrating your own weirdness. FURIOUSLY HAPPY is a book about mental illness, but under the surface it's about embracing joy in fantastic and outrageous ways and who doesn't need a bit more of that?

Why am I waiting on this book? Well, I'm pretty crazy about the Bloggess. I enjoyed her first book and even bought a copy for my daughter. I am looking forward to reading how she tackles the issues in this book. I imagine the phrase, "Depression Lies" might appear at least once in the book. And really who couldn't use some more "Furiously Happy"?

What book are you waiting on this week? Share it or a link in the comments so we can check it out. Happy reading!

Teaser Tuesday - Under Magnolia by Frances Mayes

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by Miz B of A Daily Rhythm. Anyone can participate, just do the following:

• Grab your current read and open to a random page
• Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page.
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (Make sure what you share doesn't give too much away! You don't want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title and the author so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR lists if they like your teasers.

Published March 31, 2015
by Broadway Books

"Walking with Willie Bell around the tabby remains of Oglethorpe's settlement, I stood looking at the site of the baker's house, just an outline of crushed shell, and imagined the oven, women walking under the oaks to get their bread, the fragrant smell as they stood at the door. I thought I'm walking here just as they walked. That was my first inkling of how the past pounces: Once they were here so I can be here thinking of the fragrance of their bread."

- p. 71

The synopsis from Goodreads.com: 

The author of three beloved books about her life in Italy, includingUnder the Tuscan Sun and Every Day in Tuscany, Frances Mayes revisits the turning points that defined her early years in Fitzgerald, Georgia. With her signature style and grace, Mayes explores the power of landscape, the idea of home, and the lasting force of a chaotic and loving family. 

From her years as a spirited, secretive child, through her university studies—a period of exquisite freedom that imbued her with a profound appreciation of friendship and a love of travel—to her escape to a new life in California, Mayes exuberantly recreates the intense relationships of her past, recounting the bitter and sweet stories of her complicated family: her beautiful yet fragile mother, Frankye; her unpredictable father, Garbert; Daddy Jack, whose life Garbert saved; grandmother Mother Mayes; and the family maid, Frances’s confidant Willie Bell.

Under Magnolia is a searingly honest, humorous, and moving ode to family and place, and a thoughtful meditation on the ways they define us, or cause us to define ourselves. With acute sensory language, Mayes relishes the sweetness of the South, the smells and tastes at her family table, the fragrance of her hometown trees, and writes an unforgettable story of a girl whose perspicacity and dawning self-knowledge lead her out of the South and into the rest of the world, and then to a profound return home.

What's your teaser this week? Share it or a link in the comments so we can check it out. Thanks for stopping by. Happy Reading!

Georgia State Poet Laureate - Judson Mitcham

In honor of National Poetry Month, I thought I would look up and see who the state poet laureate is. The current Georgia Poet Laureate is Judson Mitcham according to the Georgia Council for the Arts website. There is an interesting interview with him and one of his poems on the blog "How a Poem Happens" by Brian Brodeur.

The Poetry Foundation has a sample poem and a short bio as well. It seems that Judson Mitcham has an undergraduate degree in psychology as well as a PhD. He has at least 3 collections of poetry published including Somewhere in Ecclesiastes (1991)  which won The Devins Award. There is also a biography of him on the Georgia Encyclopedia site.

You know what I find a little sad? My local library doesn't seem to have any copies of his collections of poetry. Instead they have a copy of one of his novels, Sabbath Creek. At least one of their online reference tools, Literary Reference Center, has copies of about 5 of his poems.

It's not like he was appointed this year. According to the reference material, he was appointed to his position in 2012. Funny about the library. I really would have expected at least one collection there.

Below is one of Judson Mitcham's poems. I do not own the copyright for this poem and will remove or excerpt it upon request.

Question
But if a man falls in the forest,
if he trips over his own feet
and falls out of control,
and if no one else is there
when he thuds to the dirt,
is that man still ridiculous?
And if a train rattles off
into the cool night, miles from the house,
if it quiets the baby, has it become a kind of lullaby? If a tree
falls in the forest ...
                                                And there is no God
to witness it, and no human
either, is there a question—
when the deer lifts its head
to listen, when the crow
opens the air
with its old raw note, when
the ants and the beetles come
to interrogate the dead one suddenly upon them?

The full text of the poem can be found in the Chattahoochee Review September 1, 2013 issue or on the Literary Reference Center site if your library has it.

The Trouble with Truffles- a 4 Star Review of Chef Maurice and a Spot of Truffle by J.A. Lang

Chef Maurice and a Spot of Truffle by J.A. Lang is a humorous cozy featuring Chef Maurice and his friend and restaurant critic, Arthur Wordington-Smythe. It's the first in a series of mysteries with these characters. The staff at the chef's restaurant also make appearances as do the local constabulary.

In the thoughts of Chef Maurice, "The good citizens of Beakley mostly confined themselves to the wholesomely legal highs of alcohol and gossip." So why then is there a dead body? His mushroom dealer is dead in a ditch. Who could have possibly wanted him dead?

Certainly not Chef Maurice who wants the mushrooms that his loyal supplier owes him. This leads him into trouble. Even though the mushrooms were destined for his table, he has trouble convincing Lucy that he is trustworthy and should be allowed to take them right away, Best line from the synopsis: "They say one should never trust a thin chef, By this measure Chef Maurice is very trustworthy."

Chef decides that he and Arthur must investigate the death of Ollie, Along the way they meet several interesting people and acquire a pig.

I enjoyed the mystery in this book. Even though it is a serious enough crime, the undertaking of all involved trying to solve the mystery is quite funny. Chef Maurice's speech is peppered with words of French. That's no problem for me, but I could see where potentially it would confuse some of the other readers. It's all about execution. I don't think anyone would really have much trouble following it.

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. It's a good mystery and everything you need to solve it at the same rate of the chef is given to you as he receives his clues and makes his deductions.  It was enjoyable to watch his mind at work.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

Waiting on Wednesday #80 - Darwin's Watch by Terry Pratchett, Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen

"Waiting on Wednesday" is a weekly event hosted by Jill over at Breaking the Spine where we spotlight upcoming releases we are eagerly anticipating. 

A welcome addition to the Discworld books, Darwin's Watch is scheduled for release June 9, 2015 from Anchor, a division of Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. 

Synopsis from the publisher:

Something terrible is happening on Roundworld: when Charles Darwin writes Theology of the Species, science is set back one hundred years and the wizards of Discworld must struggle to save the inhabitants of Earth...er, that's Roundworld...from an apocalyptic end.

The mind-bending Science of Discworld series offers a wizard's-eye view of our world in a clever mash-up of fiction and fact. When a wizardly experiment inadvertently brought about the creation of Roundworld the wizard scholars of Unseen University did their best to put things on the right course. In Darwin's Watch they may face their greatest challenge yet: A man called Darwin has written a bestselling book calledThe Theology of the Species, and his theory of scientific design has been witlessly embraced by Victorian society and scientific progress has consequently slowed to a crawl. Now the question is can the wizards find a way to change history back to the way it should have been? In Darwin's Watch, the authors explore the impact of major scientific advances on our planet and our culture, the dangers of obscurantism, and the evolution of the theory of evolution as you have never seen it before. This brilliant addition to Pratchett's beloved Discworld series illustrates with great wit and wisdom how the laws of our universe truly are stranger than fiction.

Why am I looking forward to it?

Well. Discworld and Terry Pratchett. I've really enjoyed his writing over the years. And, I am curious as to how the theory of evolution is presented, as a former biology teacher.

What book are you waiting on this week? Share it or a link in the comments so we can check it out. Happy Reading!

Teaser Tuesday - A Field Guide to Awkward Silences by Alexandra Petri

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by Miz B of A Daily Rhythm. Anyone can participate, just do the following:

• Grab your current read and open to a random page
• Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page.
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (Make sure what you share doesn't give too much away! You don't want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title and the author so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR lists if they like your teasers.

Expected publication: June 2, 2015 by NAL

"I am afraid of many things. Drowning, fire, the disapproval of strangers on the Internet, that I'll be hit by a bus without having had the chance to clear my browser history, that one day everyone else on the subway will suddenly be able to hear what I'm thinking and turn on me. You know, the usuals."

This is from page 3 of A Field Guide to Awkward Silences: Essays by Alexandra Petri. From what I've read of the book so far, she is funny and as the synopsis says, not afraid to make a fool of herself.

Synopsis from Goodreads.com: 

Washington Post columnist Alexandra Petri turns her satirical eye on her own life in this hilarious new memoir...

Most twentysomethings spend a lot of time avoiding awkwardness. Not Alexandra Petri.

Afraid of rejection? Alexandra Petri has auditioned for America’s Next Top Model. Afraid of looking like an idiot? Alexandra Petri lost Jeopardy! by answering “Who is that dude?” on national TV. Afraid of bad jokes? Alexandra Petri won an international pun championship.

Petri has been a debutante, reenacted the Civil War, and fended off suitors at a Star Wars convention while wearing a Jabba the Hutt suit. One time, she let some cult members she met on the street baptize her, just to be polite. She’s a connoisseur of the kind of awkwardness that most people spend whole lifetimes trying to avoid. If John Hodgman and Amy Sedaris had a baby…they would never let Petri babysit it.

But Petri is here to tell you: Everything you fear is not so bad. Trust her. She’s tried it. And in the course of her misadventures, she’s learned that there are worse things out there than awkwardness—and that interesting things start to happen when you stop caring what people think.

What's your teaser from this week? Share it or a link in the comments. Thanks for coming by.  Happy Reading!