HelenKay Dimon

A friend sent me a link that has made me re-think my undergrad choice after all these years.  Yeah, sure, college has been over for….well, a long time.  And, yeah, I met my hubby in undergrad, so it’s kind of special.  But, I swear I would have paid more attention – gone to class even – if my school offered a class like this one at the University of Illinois:

"Women in the Literary Imagination," which is an overview of the chick lit genre, a new genre of women’s literature that is post-feminist and focuses on strong, quirky, comical females and the issues they face. One of the course’s required readings is Helen Fielding’s Bridget Jones’s Diary.

One student said:

Combining (the chick lit class) with the historical section made me understand how the discourse of money, marriage, sex and feminism really evolved in the 200 years between Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and Fielding’s Bridget Jones’s Diary.

Hey, me too!  Really, I think that every time I read  chick lit.  Okay, I don’t.  Really, I think:  "I wish I could write in first person without sounding like an idiot."  But, that’s almost the same as understanding the discourse of, uh, whatever. 

I do have to wonder if being "forced" to read chick lit for a class, rather than reading it for pure enjoyment, would make me dread the genre.  After all, some evil professor made me read Joyce and Beckett and I’m not exactly a huge proponent of either one of those two these days.

Yesterday’s contemporary romance Daily Top Ten at B&N looked a lot like my keeper author shelf (okay, keeper author room).  In addition to the authors who regularly appear – yeah, I’m talking about Nora Roberts who is on there every damn day, and Nicholas Sparks who I refuse to describe as a romance writer – some old favorites showed up.  Specifically, this week brought the return of Julie Garwood, Catherine Coulter and Sandra Brown. 

All three of these ladies now package their work as something other than romance.  In the case of Garwood, the mere thought of her move away from historical romance – which I really don’t read except for older Garwood and a few others – makes me weep. 

The reader reviews for Garwood’s newest Slow Burn are mixed but I rarely pay attention to Amazon reviews anyway.  But, the short blurb from Library Journal didn’t manage to get me excited:

Burdened with grad-school woes, a struggling business, and responsibility for her sisters after her mother’s death, Kate McKenna finds relief in an ill-advised fling-and then discovers that someone wants her dead.

Can you say, blah…?  But, I will read it and grumble and miss her old ways, ’cause that’s what I do with Garwood.  Brown’s Chill Factor sounds better.  While I hate to read any romance about divorce or divorcing couples, this one shows promise:

Lust, jealousy and murder suffuse Brown’s crisp thriller (after White Hot), set in the snowbound mountains of North Carolina. Lilly and Dutch Burton’s marriage didn’t withstand the loss of their three-year-old daughter, despite their attempt at a fresh start with the purchase of a vacation cabin in bucolic Cleary, N.C., where the novel opens on the divorced couple discussing its sale. Dutch is now Cleary’s chief of police, and Lilly is a magazine editor in Atlanta. As she races back to the city to beat a blizzard, her car skids out, striking a hiker emerging from the woods. Turns out he’s a man she knows: handsome freelance writer Ben Tierney, whom she met and flirted with the summer before. With no choice but to wait out the storm in the cabin with Ben, who is injured, Lilly calls Dutch, but he can’t reach her via the now impassable mountain road. Meanwhile, Cleary is haunted by the case of five missing women-all now feared dead. With Lilly still stranded, Dutch goes ballistic when the FBI arrives in town with evidence that Tierney is the serial killer. The snowy suspense will cool off Brown’s fans during the dog days of summer.

Not blah.

I have an official title and official cover copy for my August ‘06 release, Viva Las Bad Boys! – yeah, that’s the title.  The books isn’t completely written ::ahem:: but it’s getting there.  Here’s the back cover copy (ie, what the book is supposed to be about when it’s done):

Welcome to Vegas’s hottest spot-the Berkley Hotel and Casino-where a trio of bad boys are more than happy to put the "sin" in Sin City.

JACKPOT

Jack McAllister is looking to get lucky on his vacation, and the jilted bride sitting at the slot machine next to him just might be his answer. Getting her up to his room is a breeze. Ditto getting her out of that formal, white dress. Laying eyes on her investigator’s license, also surprisingly easy. Laine Monroe isn’t a bride at all. The pretty blonde P.I. has been hired to catch Jack in a compromising position. Lucky for her, Jack’s all too willing to compromise.

PLAYER’S CLUB

Jenna Barrister didn’t become Director of Human Resources by being a pushover. So why is her first task – firing playboy super-chef Zach Jacobs – proving so hard? He’s a bad boy, a rules breaker who has enjoyed one guest too many, and he needs to go. But when the lights suddenly go out in the hotel, Jenna’s resolve crumbles and so do her inhibitions. She wants to experience the heat, and the sexy, rebellious chef knows just how to turn it up.

TWO OF A KIND

With his easy charm and roguish smile, Alex Mitchell thinks he has the Berkley Casino Assistant Manager position all wrapped up-until Caroline Rogers walks through the door in her perfect business suit. The competition is on with each side equally determined to best the other. As the stakes get higher, their mutual attraction deepens. Now, as the Casino faces its first blackout, Alex and Caroline are ready to indulge in a competition of a different sort, where the winner definitely takes all.

Love may be a gamble, but these scorching-hot bad boys are a sure bet.

Publishers Lunch has a feature that lets us all know which books have been reviewed the most over the last few weeks.  Why do we need to know this, you ask?   No idea. Will my book ever be on this list?  Uh, no.  But, the information is interesting – or, at least it’s interesting to those authors on the list.

The list:

1. Shalimar the Clown, by Salman Rushdie 10 – 7 positive; 2 mixed; 1 negative [Kakutani].  Previous week: 7 positive; 2 mixed. 
2. The Painted Drum, by Louise Erdrich 7 – 5 positive; 2 mixed.  Previous week: 5 positive; 1 mixed; 1 negative.
3. The Diviners, by Rick Moody 6 – 4 positive; 1 mixed; 1 negative.
4. Tooth and Claw, by T. Coraghessan Boyle 6 – 3 positive; 3 mixed.
5. My Detachment, by Tracy Kidder 4 – 1 positive; 1 mixed; 2 negative.
6. The Tender Bar, by J.R. Moehringer 4 – 3 positive; 1 mixed. 
7. The Highest Tide, by Jim Lynch 4 – 4 positive.

The one that sticks out for me is The Tender Bar.  It’s referenced in almost every magazine you pick up this month.  It’s gotten very good reviews.  And, something must be working because PW had this announcement:

FILM RIGHTS
Film rights to J.R. Moehringer’s memoir THE TENDER BAR, to Scott Rudin (with no studio partner yet), at auction, reportedly for a high six-figure option, against a seven-figure pick-up.

Not bad for a memoir…or for any other kind of book, for that matter.

I’m a Susan Elizabeth Phillips fan.  Have been for a long time.  Absolutely loved Alex from Kiss An Angel.  The same Alex Publishers Weekly described as:  "… there is nothing funny in the mean-spirited and abusive hero."  Yeah, well, PW was just plain wrong on that one.  Alex was a brooding alpha male, not abusive.  The book is about a romance at a circus.  You try writing that and have it make sense.  Phillips is a genius.

Now, she has received some rough reviews.  At the RWA Conference this year she talked about how People reviewed one of her books and used the word "yuck" in the description.  Uh-huh, yuck.  But, she does get attention in the big boy papers – probably because she’s a bestseller.  Last Sunday, the New York Times Book Review had a small blurb on her latest, Match Me If You Can.  The review had this to say about Match Me If You Can and Sophie Kinsella’s The Undomestic Goddess:

Both are chick lit novels about overworked women that appeal to overworked women.

Uh, never thought of it that way, but okay. 

The reviewer then went on to describe Match Me If You Can like this:

…the heroine inherits her grandmother’s Chicago match-making business and is smitten by her most demanding client.  Too bad Chak Tok Ich’aak isn’t around anymore.  Now he would have been quite a catch.

Chak Tok Ich’aak?  What the hell…?  All I can say is that I read Match Me If You Can, even reviewed it here.  Liked it.  Not my favorite Phillips but still very enjoyable.  With or without Chak Tok Ich’aak, it works.

I’m a fan of The Book List section of the magazine The Week.  Every week it features a writer and asks him or her to list those books the person views as the "Best Books."  Some of the book choices seem odd.  This week, the author choice seemed even odder.  This one is a guy named Steve Cone who is "the head of brand management at Citigroup’s wealth management division" – yeah, that’s in quotes to clarify that I didn’t make up that descriptive.  Apparently, it’s his actual title.  So, I must admit I wondered how The Week stumbled across this guy.  Not the obvious choice.  I’m sure his book, Steal These Ideas!:  Marketing Secrets That Will Make You A Star is fabulous and interesting but…yikes.

In listing his fav books, Cone did pick a few I’d heard of, which is a nice change.  He also picked one that is always a problem for me – a problem because of the book jacket.  The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William Shirer is a fascinating historical book and sits in my family room bookcase.  Here’s the issue:  the cover of the version I have is black and has a swastika on the side.  Yeah, a swastika.  Let’s just say it sticks out.  Let’s also say more than one person has fixated on it during conversation, trying to figure out if I’m a sicko and just how fast they should run from my home. 

Cone also names his wife’s book as a fav – Making Sense of Menopause.  Good call on Cone’s part.  Always wise to name a relative’s books in a positive light.  But, I do wonder if more of my guests would be concerned about seeing a swastika or a menopause book on my bookshelf.

Someone has written the definitive book on Nancy Drew – Girl Sleuth:  Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her.  This book purports to tell all the secrets.  You know, the stuff you never cared about when you were younger because you were too busy reading The Secret of the Old Clock or The Mystery at Lilac Inn.  Now that you’re older and wiser, the behind-the-scenes stuff is supposed to be unbearably interesting.  Uh-huh. 

Here are some of the highlights:

1. Despite what the book title may suggest, a guy named Edward Stratemeyer came up with the idea of Nancy Drew and outlined the first 5 books.  Come on, you knew a man invented the idea of a hot teenage girl crime solver.  That has "guy idea" written all over it.
2. Nancy Drew was almost named Nell Cody, Stella Strong, Nan Nelson and Diana Dare.  I don’t know about you, but Stella Strong is my fav.  Sounds like a cross between Rosie the Riveter and a porn star.
3. And, as most people know, Carolyn Keene is not a real person.  Sorry if I’m the one to break that startling news.  There isn’t an Easter Bunny either.  Again, sorry. 
4. My favorite fact is that the woman who wrote most of the books, Mildred Benson, said in 1993:  "I’m so sick of Nancy Drew I could vomit."  I think the Hardy boys said something like that at one time too.

If you stop by now and then you probably know Wendy (I would like to link to her blog but she doesn’t have one right now – that’s a hint, Wendy) and I run a review site, Paperback Reader.  We’re thrilled that Booksquare has agreed to join us. She’ll be stopping in every month.  If she doesn’t, we will hunt her down and make her post something.  We’re just sweet like that.  Her first review of Too Wilde To Tame by Janelle Denison is up.    Go look…really, go…now…

And, for those wondering, I checked and her parents didn’t actually name her Booksquare.  Her real name is Kassia Krozser.  I prefer to call her Ms. Square ’cause it’s catchy. 

My hubby just finished The Sportswriter by Richard Ford.  After, he turned to me and described the book’s plot in 4 of the most uninteresting sentences ever uttered.  Bottom line is he didn’t like or dislike it.  Worse, he didn’t know what to think about it.  He didn’t understand the point of the book or what he was supposed to feel or think.   

So that I don’t get hate mail from Ford fans, let me say right up front Ford won the Pulitzer for the book after The Sportswriter called Independence Day  – I haven’t read that one but I know it’s not the basis for the Will Smith movie.  I have read other works by Ford as part of a short story obsession I’ve developed (Rock Springs and A Multitude of Sins). The collections were powerful. 

Disclaimer over… what I found intriguing about this was my hubby’s sense of blah after he read this book.  Since this isn’t a case of the hubby only liking a certain type of fiction and since he actually has a high tolerance for plot lines others might find, shall we say, a bit dry or painful to read, something else went wrong.  I’m guessing it’s about a connection that needs to happen between reader and writer.  This time, for this book and for whatever reason, it didn’t happen. 

I got to thinking how scary this is – if you’ve won the Pulitzer or not – to pour your heart into a piece and have readers wonder why you bothered.  My theory goes like this:  some books teach us something about the world or ourselves but not all do and that’s okay.   Some are pure entertainment or escape.  Some move us.  Some make us think.  Some make us laugh or cry.  Some just are. 

The problem with the last category is the lack of connection.  What if your book just is?  Maybe a book only falls into that category for some readers but not all.  Either way, the "just is" slice of fiction is a scary place to be.

USA Today has provided a list of upcoming releases you simply must read or at least must buy then pretend to read.  The latter is my plan.  The editors called these "notable" so by definition they are worthy of note.  The article is here. 

This one is my favorite – not because I think the author is the most amazing writer of all time (so don’t write me and tell me he isn’t) but because I thought he was a one-hit wonder in the publishing world.  At this point in my writing career I am always very happy to see authors get subsequent book contracts.

The City of Falling Angels By John Berendt

Author of best-selling Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil offers portrait of Venice and aftermath of the burning of the famous Fenice Opera House. Penguin Press, $25.95

Okay, maybe not the most interesting sounding of books but, come on, the guy must have made a fortune with Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.  It was on the hardcover bestseller lists for what seemed like a decade.  He could just sit back and spend his days counting money, as I would do.  So, congrats to him for dragging out the laptop a second time.

Also, here are the memoirs  and here are the non-fiction titles USA Today thinks you should read this Fall.  And, really, isn’t USA Today your guide for finding great reads….