Someday, Someday, Maybe (2013)

Someday, Someday, Maybe by Lauren Graham
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

After a week that began with the bombings at the Boston Marathon Race and included the fertilizer company explosion in Texas, I wasn’t sure I would be able to concentrate long enough to read anything.

With multiple titles on my Kindle, I chose Lauren Graham’s debut novel Someday, Someday, Maybe partly because it had a theatrical theme and my expectations weren't high. Silly me. I fell in love almost immediately: with the book, with ditzy Franny, and all her friends.

Bottom Line: Delightful, charming, quirky, and funny. Highly recommended for anyone who already loves Lauren Graham, dreams of becoming an actress, or just needs a respite from the everyday world.

Not being familiar with Lauren Graham's work as an actress, I can only say that she has written about trying to make it in NYC with wit, understanding, and compassion. Aspiring young (and no so young) women will love this story.

Franny Banks pledged to give herself three years to achieve her career goal of becoming an employed actress in New York City. With just six months left, it looks like all she’s achieved is a pretty good job as a waitress like lots of other hopefuls.

A showcase could be her ticket to establish herself in NYC but every path and opportunity presents its own complications and there are difficult decisions to be made.

Interspersed with pages of Franny’s calendar full of notes, doodles, and promises, the reader learns what it is like to maneuver the competitive world of being a performer. With lots of talent but little self-confidence, Franny rattles on in her head about what she thinks is going on in the world around her and then goes off in the absolutely wrong direction.

Disclaimer: I got my copy of Someday, Someday, Maybe pre-pub in electronic format from NetGalley after seeing a number of mentions and reviews.

Title: Someday, Someday, Maybe

Author: Lauren Graham

Genre: Chic Lit

Publisher: Ballantine Books (April 30, 2013)

No. of Pages: 352 pages

Copyright: 2013

ISBN: 0345532740

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Source: Pre-publication Ebook from NetGalley

Best known for her roles on the critically acclaimed television series Gilmore Girls and Parenthood, Lauren Graham has performed on Broadway and appeared in films including Bad Santa and Evan Almighty.
 

She earned a BA in English from Barnard College and an MFA in acting from Southern Methodist University. Lauren Graham lives in New York and Los Angeles.

Graham earned her actor's equity card in 1988 after two years in summer stock at the Barn Theatre in Augusta, Michigan.

View all my reviews

A.S.A. Harrison Has Died

I have been trying to get a pre-pub copy of A.S.A. Harrison's debut psychological thriller The Secret Wife because it has received praise from authors of books I love like Kate Atkinson, S. J. Watson, and Tess Gerritson.

Author Susan Harrison died on Sunday, April 14th at the age of 65. Her book will go on sale June 25th. She was scheduled to be part of a mystery writer's panel at the American Library Association Conference the end of June.

Book Sale for National Library Week 2013 in Jackson, Michigan

 
...for the 

FRIENDS SPRING BOOK SALE!

at the 

CARNEGIE LIBRARY

Thurs., April 18:  noon - 9 PM*

Fri., April 19: 9 AM - 8 PM**

Sat., April 20: 10 AM - 2 PM***

*Anyone helping out with the sale is invited to shop the "pre-sale" on Thursday from 11 AM until noon.  We still need a few more workers for Fri. and Sat.!  Reply to this email or call Laurel Mauldin (784-7591) to "reserve your spot" AND take advantage of this opportunity!

**Forgot to renew your membership in the Friends of the Jackson District Library for 2013?  You can renew at the SALE, and all 2013 FRIENDS as of Friday at 7 PM will be eligible to win an e-reader at the Library's COMMUNITY PARTNERS RECEPTION (Friday, 6 - 8 PM at the Carnegie - a really fun time to shop the SALE!).  

***Saturday is $1.00 per bag day!  Bring the kids/grandkids a little early for the KEN NESBITT FAMILY PROGRAM at 2 PM and enjoy a huge bag of books for only $1 -  and a fun time with this year's visiting poet for FREE!

SEE YOU AT THE SALE!

RAGE AGAINST THE DYING (2013)

Rage Against the Dying by Becky Masterman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The disturbing prologue of Becky Masterman's debut thriller, Rage Against the Dying, almost convinced me to stop reading right then and there. I am not crazy about serial killers and helpless women. And when chapter one began “Ten days earlier. . .” I was not reassured. I skipped ahead checking the beginning of each chapter until I found out what was going to happen. After that I relaxed and devoured the rest of the story in a day and a half.

Bottom Line: Becky Masterman is a worthy new voice in the genre. The hard part will be waiting for her next book. Highly recommended.

This is a great thriller and for a change the retired FBI agent is a fifty-nine-year-old woman. Brigid Quinn’s job was hunting sexual predators and she carries dreadful memories that continue to haunt her. Trying to create a new life she has recently married and attempted to settle down in Tucson, Arizona with her philosophy professor husband Carlo; but when a man is arrested, who admits to being responsible for a series of killings in one of Brigid’s unsolved cases, she can’t help but get involved. The web of lies involved threaten to take Brigid’s new life away from her.

Here’s an excerpt from a conversation between Brigid and Carlo:

            “Trying to derive meaning from hardship isn’t exclusively Christian. There’s Viktor Frankl. And I like what someone once said: “there’s a crack in everything, and that’s how the light gets in.’”

            I pointed to his book. “Wittgenstein?”

            He shook his head. “Leonard Cohen.”

How can you NOT love dialogue like that?

Then I read somewhere that the working title had been One Tough Broad. That would have been so wrong and wouldn't have appealed to the older female readers who are going to want to see some part of themselves in Brigid.

Disclaimer: I got my copy of Rage Against the Dying from my local library after seeing a number of mentions and reviews.

Title: Rage Against the Dying ~ A Thriller

Author: Becky Masterman

Genre: Thriller, Mystery

Publisher: Minotaur

No. of Pages: 320 pages

Copyright: March 12, 2013

ISBN: 0312622945

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Source: Jackson District Library

An acquisitions editor for a press that specializes in medical textbooks (forensic examiners and law enforcement!), Becky Masterman grew up in Florida and received her M.A. in creative writing from Florida Atlantic University. She and her husband actually live in Tucson, Arizona. This is her first thriller.

 

View all my reviews

Wondering What Your Kids Should Be Reading?

Beth Carswell has blogged about The 25 Books Every Kid Should Have on Their Bookshelf for AbeBooks Reading Copy (AbeBooks blog).

This month is the 70th anniversary of masterpiece The Little Prince, written by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. which merits number one on the list created by Flavorwire.

What titles did they miss? Comment below and we could create our own list! 

Available Today! - LIFE AFTER LIFE

I have already declared this book my favorite of 2013. Read it and tell me what YOU think.

Literati Bookstore Opened Quietly on Easter!

Literati Bookstore in Ann Arbor

If you're as excited about the new bookstore in Ann Arbor as I am, you have probably been reading the releases that say 'coming soon'. Quietly, with no fanfare, Literati opened its doors yesterday, Easter Sunday!

Here's an article from AnnArbor.com that reveals the details you are dying to know: hours of operation, where it's located, and how to find them on social media with some background on the new owners thrown in!