Tampa Book Buzz

happy 4th of july

I’m one of the lucky ones who has a four-day weekend ahead of me. Four whole days….

I’m taking a break from my life, including blogging. See you next week!

july’s online book club pick is….

…The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

Throughout the month, I’ll post tidbits about the book and author. On the last day of the month, I’ll post my review and hopefully you’ll post comments letting me know what you thought of it.

Happy reading!

online book club review:maps for lost lovers by nadeem aslam

Maps for Lost Lovers examines the Muslim faith, Pakistani culture and the human struggle for love and acceptance through the microcosm of a small immigrant neighborhood in England. Jugnu, a Muslim Pakistani immigrant, and his lover Chandra have disappeared and are believed to have been murdered by Chandra’s brothers as punishment for their adultery and rejection of their religious values.

As the story of the couple’s lives and deaths unfolds, author Nadeem Aslam tells the story of Jugnu’s brother Shamus, his wife Kaukab and their family. Each family member is secretly unhappy for a different reason. Shamas both resents and respects his wife’s adherence to strict religious beliefs, but longs to be free to question his upbringing and the world without fear of retaliation.

Kaukab hates living in England, where her children are endlessly exposed to Western culture and encouraged to forsake their upbringing and reject her. Her religion and culture make her feel superior to the “whites” she encounters, while at the same time making her feel embarrassed by her limited English, her clothes that reek of pungent spices, and her lack of knowledge about Western society’s rules. Shamas and Kaukab’s children have each rejected their upbringing in ways ranging from the quietly subversive to the openly hostile.

Author Aslam, himself born in Pakistan and living in London, imbues Maps with the lush details and nuances of Pakistani cooking and fashion, describing spices and fruits and gold threads and rich tapestries in exquisite detail. The sensuality present in meals and clothing stands in stark contrast to the repressive and regimented rules that govern everything else in the characters’ lives. Through his various characters, Aslam questions the Muslim and Pakistani traditions of arranged marriages, honor killings, the status of women, the rules of divorce, multiple marriages and limited contact with Westerners.

He doesn’t provide any answers to these questions; almost nothing in the novel gets resolved. Most of the characters end up just as unhappy as they were at the beginning of the book, if not more so. I found this a little unsettling, but perhaps Aslam wants us to be exposed to the questions so that we might find the answers on our own. I found the pace excruciatingly slow and at times wished for less detail about the many colors, textures and flavors mentioned frequently. I also found myself getting a few of the characters confused because so many names started with “S” or “K.”

Maps for Lost Lovers presents challenging — and to some, inflammatory — questions about faith, religion, love, culture, prejudice and acceptance. Those questions, however, are buried beneath the overly detailed lives of unsympathetic and unlikeable characters.

What did you think?

photos from june 24 book signing

Here’s some photos from last Saturday’s local author book signing at the South Tampa Barnes and Noble (click on photos to enlarge):

Local authors Skip Allen (Out of the Ashes) and Barbara J. Sorey (Know Where You Going? You Gotta Know Where You Been!) 

Local authors John Pristell (Boy versus Girl) and Barbara J. Sorey (Know Where You Going? You Gotta Know Where You Been!)

Local author Steven Sims tells a customer about his book Spy Wednesday

Local authors Bill Pearce and Ann Baker (No Coincidence)

Local authors John Pristell (Boy versus Girl) and Skip Allen (Out of the Ashes)

great opening lines:eternally yours by s.l. juers

To whomever might read this:

Suicide! It is not a decision that comes easily. The mere consideration of such a drastic undertaking, by any God-fearing person believing he will incur eternal damnation in Hell, must be the result of extreme circumstances. So, though you don’t know me, and have only chanced to come upon this letter, I want you to understand.

—- Eternally Yours by S.L. Juers

local authors book signing last saturday

On my way to work last Saturday, I stopped by the local authors book signing at the South Tampa Barnes and Noble store. When you walked in the door, the first things you saw were the six tables set up in the front of the store and the smiling faces of some of our local authors, eager to say hello, give you a bookmark and tell you about their books.

Skip Allen was there, selling his thriller Out of Ashes and being his usual charming self. He kept telling me snippets about the sequel, for which I accidentally repaid him by knocking over a bottle of water on his table. (Luckily, no books were harmed in the making of this story.)

Barbara J. Sorey was there with a big smile on her face, as always, letting people know about her book Know Where You Going? You Gotta Know Where You Been!. Sharing her table was veteran journalist Steven Sims, promoting his thriller Spy Wednesday. I introduced myself to him and we had time to chat for a little while; he’s a really nice guy.

The gracious No Coincidence author Ann Baker was at one of the front tables. We commiserated with each other about having to go to work later in the day (although she was going to put in a 12-hour shift as a law enforcement officer and I was only going to my piddly Second Job for a few hours).

At the table behind her were authors Daisy Parrado (Grandma Reads My Thoughts) and … Bill Pearce (I hope I got his name correct!), both of whom remembered me from the recent panel discussion I participated in at the bookstore, which made me feel like a mini-celebrity. (Plus, Parrado had candy!)

I met the very polite John A. Pristell, who gave me a copy of Boy versus Girl, a collection of his poems. One of Pristell’s friends happened to be videotaping while he and I were talking and exchanging business cards, so the Pristell family videotape collection unfortunately now has a good ten minutes of very unflattering side shots of Yours Truly.

There was another author there whose name I didn’t get, which is ok, because he was a little grumpy.

I’m having trouble getting my photos from Saturday to load, so I’ll post them separately.

norman chastain is a local author at heart

cue the song It’s A Small World…

Author Norman Chastain — who was born in Jesup, Georgia (about 20-30 minutes away from my hometown), raised in Tampa, and now lives in Atlanta — has a new mystery-thriller called After the Game that opens with a murder scene that takes place in Tampa, just off Bayshore Boulevard.

Got all that?

After the Game looks interesting and Chastain recently received a good review from Lighthouse Literary Reviews. I’ve asked him to let me know if he ever comes down for a book signing.

…it’s a small world after all…

news from local author joy v. smith

Local author and fellow blogger Joy V. Smith’s story Crystal Quest (sequel to Seedlings, which appeared in Magistria: Realm of the Sorcerer) will appear in the anthology Magistria: Shards of the Goddess, which is scheduled for publication in August.

She is a scheduled guest on The Idea Boutique, a blog where authors discuss where they get the ideas for their stories. Her world-building article is scheduled for July 2 and her post about the background on her shared world anthology stories is set for August 1. Happy blogging, Joy!

book signing for ersula knox odom tomorrow

Ersula Knox Odom (At Sula’s Feet) is having a book signing on June 24 at 2 p.m. at Haslam’s Bookstore, 2025 Central Ave., St. Pete.

tcm’s book giveaway for june

This month, Turner Classic Movies is giving away copies of Conversations with the Great Moviemakers of Hollywood’s Golden Age at the American Film Institute by George Stevens, Jr. To learn more about this book or to enter the sweepstakes, click here.