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August 16, 2010
Greetings:
We're thrilled to bring you another issue of Buzzing About Books, a newsletter for curious readers. In this issue:
- Dori Ostermiller explores what lies beneath the surface of infidelity in Outside the Ordinary World
- Danielle Ganek's comedy of manners, The Summer We Read Gatsby, features two sisters who inherit a house in the Hamptons
- Claire Avery depicts the struggles of two teenage girls growing up in a polygamous sect in Hidden Wives
- The heroine of Patrizia Chen's novel, It Takes Two, is a middle-aged woman captivated by the passion and sensuality of tango dancing in Buenos Aires
- Shira Nayman explores the boundary between sanity and insanity in The Listener, a novel set in a post-World War II asylum
Warm regards,
Judy Gelman and Vicki Levy Krupp
info@bookclubcookbook.com
bookclubcookbook.com
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 Outside the Ordinary World
by Dori Ostermiller
Fiction / 374 pages / Paperback
MIRA / July, 2010
Dear
Reader:
Have you ever vowed not to turn into your parents, only to find yourself walking in their shoes?
This is what happens to Sylvia Sandon, the narrator of my debut novel, Outside the Ordinary World, an Indie Next Notable Pick that crosses many years and miles from California brushfires in the 70s to New England during the first half of this decade.
Against the backdrop of fundamentalist Christian mores, 12-year- old Sylvia agreed to hold a secret that would devour her family's dream of happiness. Now, 30 years and 3,000 miles later she finds herself following her mother's path, into an affair she feels powerless to resist.
New York Times bestselling author Heather Gudenkauf said this: "Beautifully written and quietly spellbinding, Outside the Ordinary World is a compelling story of love, regret and forgiveness."
Please visit my website www.doriostermiller.com, where you can read reviews and a sample chapter. I'm also on Facebook and Twitter. Write to me and I'll write back!
Best Wishes,
Dori Ostermiller
DORI OSTERMILLER IS
GIVING AWAY 5 COPIES OF OUTSIDE THE ORDINARY WORLD. ENTER TO WIN A COPY.
About Outside the Ordinary World:
Sylvia Sandon is at a crossroads in her life. A wife and mother of two daughters, she and her city-planner husband grapple with the escalating renovation of their antique farmhouse -- a situation that mirrors the disarray in Sylvia's life. Facing a failing marriage and a famished career as an art teacher, Sylvia finds herself suddenly powerless to the allure of Tai Rosen, the father of her most difficult art student. As their passion ignites, Sylvia is forced to re-examine her childhood, during which she was an accomplice to her mother's secret affair. Raised Seventh-Day Adventist, Sylvia must reconcile the conflicting values exhibited by her parents, while coming to terms with her own disturbing role in her family's dissolution and father's tragic death.
Reviews for Outside the Ordinary World:
"...Ostermiller's gift for storytelling with precision and restraint makes Outside the Ordinary World anything but ordinary. That it so easily crosses genres, from literary to mainstream, with prose that is visceral in its beauty, makes it an astonishing debut."
-The Republican
"Ostermiller grabs you from the first paragraph in this intensely emotional novel. She deftly weaves a modern story line with a lyrical writing style and her characters have a rich depth... The true prize is the plumbing of psychological effects of modern family life.."
-RT Book Reviews
For more information about Dori Ostermiller, visit her website, her Facebook page, or her Twitter page.
Dori Ostermiller is available to speak with your book club in person, by phone, or through
Skype. Please contact Dori by email to submit your request.
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The Summer We Read Gatsby
by Danielle Ganek
Fiction / 304 pages / Hardcover
Vintage / May, 2010
Dear Reader:
We must have a lot in common; my two obsessions are food and books. In fact, I can't seem to write a scene in which the food is not at least mentioned! In The Summer We Read Gatsby, it's lobster rolls, steamed clams and tiny little cheeseburgers. One of the only things the half-sisters in the book have in common, aside from their passion for The Great Gatsby, is their love of food.
People often ask where I "come up with this stuff." I start with the characters, I say. And the next question is usually: is it autobiographical? In this, the narrator is, like me, an American who never lived in the States, read American novels obsessively and pined for unattainable tootsie rolls from afar. (I came back for college.)
I recommend reading it with your toes in the sand and a mint cocktail in hand.
Dani
DANIELLE GANEK IS
GIVING AWAY 5 COPIES OF THE SUMMER WE READ GATSBY. ENTER TO WIN A COPY.
About The Summer We Read Gatsby:
A delightful comedy of manners about two sisters who must set aside their differences when they inherit a house in the Hamptons.
Cassie is a serious journalist with her feet firmly planted on the ground; Peck is a vintage-obsessed actress with her head in the clouds. In fact, the only thing the Moriarty sisters seem to have in common is their inheritance of Fool's House, a ramshackle cottage left to them by their beloved Aunt Lydia.
Equipped with only a flimsy will, the advice of a few neighbors, and Aunt Lydia's instruction that they "seek a thing of utmost value" within the cottage, the girls must resolve not only what to do with Fool's House but also their disparate notions of what makes a family and how to respect their sisterly differences.
Set in the end-of-an-era summer of 2009, The Summer We Read Gatsby is filled with fabulous parties, romantic entanglement, and a cast of eccentric characters. As she did in Lulu Meets God and Doubts Him, Ganek, with her pitch-perfect sense of style and wit, indulges our secret desire to peek into a rarefied world in this lively and mischievous romp through one of Long Island's most famous neighborhoods.
Reviews for The Summer We Read Gatsby:
"A sophisticated comedy of manners."
-Oprah's summer reading list
"A smart, entertaining romp."
-People magazine
For more information about Danielle Ganek, visit her website.
Danielle Ganek is available to speak
with your book club by phone. Please contact Danielle by email to submit your request.
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 Hidden Wives by Claire Avery
Fiction / 336 pages / Paperback
Forge / June, 2010
Dear Reader:
Imagine entering adolescence only to find you're engaged to a man five times your age. You are not allowed to choose your husband, he has been chosen for you. And you will share this man with many other wives. You will be forced to give up your education, freedom and dreams. And when you do meet the love of your life, you will have to give him  up too.
Hidden Wives follows the journey of two sisters growing up in a polygamist community where religion is distorted to justify rampant abuse, misogyny and the taking of child brides.
Visit www.claireaveryauthor.com or write
claire.avery1@gmail.com.
Warmest Regards,
Claire Avery
CLAIRE AVERY IS GIVING AWAY 5 COPIES OF HIDDEN WIVES. ENTER TO WIN A COPY.
About Hidden Wives:
Growing up in a strict polygamist sect, teenaged sisters Rachel and Sara have always abided by the rules, which means that soon they must agree to marry much older men. But Rachel's extraordinary beauty has captured the attention of the one man it would be impossible, under any circumstances, to refuse: their leader, known to all as the Prophet.
The tension mounts at a breathtaking pace as Sara, finding disfavor with her father "for which she is forced to suffer a shocking punishment" begins to lose her faith just as Rachel, still bound by misguided loyalty, loses her heart to Luke Wilkinson, an outcast of their sect. Can the two girls escape the only life they've ever known -- before it's too late?
Reviews for Hidden Wives:
"Avery's captivating story set in the world of polygamy depicts the struggles of two teenage girls deciding whether to follow beliefs ingrained in them from birth. A compelling plot, authentic characters, and a genuine love story make this a great read."
-RT Book Reviews
"A poignant yet realistic tale of family love, loyalty, and dysfunction set in a ripped-from-the-headlines polygamist cult, where the powerful bond between two sisters and their search for justice succeeds in restoring faith in us all."
-Karen White, New York Times bestselling author
For more information about Claire Avery, visit this website, or follow Claire or Facebook or Twitter.
Claire Avery is available to speak with your book club by phone. Please contact Claire by email to submit your request.
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 It Takes Two
by Patrizia Chen
Fiction / 242 pages / Hardcover
Scribner / November, 2009
Dear Reader:
You probably wonder if this book in any
way reflects my real life. (Well, it's true that I've been dancing tango for
many years, and I still spend a lot of time in Buenos Aires.) Fortunately,
though, the answer is no. I'm happily married and intend to remain so for the
foreseeable future. But hey, there are so many Georges in the real world! Husbands who do not see their wives anymore, who look elsewhere for
pleasure, be it food, wine or another woman. Does habit kill passion?
You'll find that Francesca, the heroine
of this book, is not very different from so many distressed women out there --
maybe Photo Credit: Elisabetta Catalano  | even you? -- and her two weeks in Buenos Aires will prove life-changing.
Dancing is excellent therapy for depression, self-doubt and lack of love. And
after all, tango is, by definition, an embrace.
During the past months I've been
surprised to discover that for my readers, age is not a factor, and my audience spans young women to
middle age and older. Another surprise? Many men have also read this book and
told me that it was an eye-opener.
For more information visit www.patriziachen.com. And if you want to take up dancing ...
please write!
Patrizia
PATRIZIA CHEN IS GIVING AWAY 5 COPIES OF IT TAKES TWO. ENTER TO WIN A COPY.
About It Takes Two:
Francesca Rivabuona is
fifty, living in New York City, stalled in a sexless marriage. When she gets a writing assignment in
Buenos Aires, she leaps at the chance and soon finds herself in this
captivating city at her first tango lesson. Under the tutelage of the charming Luis, she learns
the steps and the etiquette of tango -- and feels alive for the first time in
years. When she embarks on an
affair with Roberto, the most famous plastic surgeon in town, she must decide
where her happiness lies and how -- or if -- to return to her life in the states.
It Takes Two brings vividly
to life the city of Buenos Aires and its food, nightlife, and people as well as the intricate
world of tango.
Reviews for It Takes Two:
"Just try to read this book without wanting to hop
on the first flight to Buenos Aires. Filled with lush descriptions of the
city's old-world neighbourhoods, sumptuous restaurants and milongas (tango
clubs) the tale follows Francesca, a sexy, fiftysomething socialite and travel
writer who goes to Argentina for a last minute assignment.... Breezy fun.'
-Clarissa Cruz, People magazine
"Middle-aged (and unhappily married)
Francesca takes on Buenos Aires in this smart new novel packed with local
history and sexy characters. Romance and more than a little tango ensue."
-CNN, Your winter staycation
reading list, by Linley Taber
For more information about Patrizia Chen, visit her website, or follow her on Facebook or Twitter.
Patrizia Chen is available to speak with your book club in person, by phone, or through Skype. Please contact Patrizia by email to submit your request.
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 The Listener by Shira Nayman
Fiction / 305 pages / Hardcover
Scribner / January, 2010
Dear
Reader:
I was inspired to write The Listener after spending some
years working in mental hospitals, where the hot-house emotional climate fired
my fiction writer's soul. There
was a rawness and intensity to the atmosphere; both patients and staff living
somehow at the extremes of human experience. So many troubling aspects, and yet also a vivid authenticity
and connectedness I'd never known anywhere else. A place where passions and trauma swirl -- and where at the
shady boundary between sanity and insanity, love can erupt with a kind of
Technicolor force. I was
particularly intrigued by ways in which the many mystical domains of life
seemed to interconnect -- passionate realms that could be ecstatic and
life-affirming but also troubling and dire, such as love, eroticism and the
deepest connection, but also trauma, pain, madness and loss. The Listenerinvites you into this uncanny, tropical land; I hope you find the journey
worthwhile.
Best Wishes,
Shira Nayman
SHIRA NAYMAN IS
GIVING AWAY 5 COPIES OF THE LISTENER.
ENTER TO WIN A COPY.
About The Listener:
Just after World War II, a mysterious figure, Bertram Reiner, appears at
Shadowbrook, a private asylum with elegant hallways and magnificent
grounds. The genteel chief
psychiatrist considers his charismatic patient to be a classic, intriguing case
of war neurosis. But as treatment progresses, Dr. Harrison's clarity clouds and
he is drawn into Bertram's disquieting preoccupations. He discovers that
Bertram is having an illicit affair with his head nurse, Matilda, for whom he
is also developing obsessive, erotic feelings.
Set against the backdrop of the insanity of war, The Listenerexplores the havoc historical trauma plays with the psyche, and illuminates the
uncertain boundary between sanity and insanity. The Listener is a riveting tale of madness,
mystery, and passion that excavates the dark corners of the human soul.
Reviews for The Listener:
"[A] gripping narrative with style and depth...
with thick, sensuous writing throughout, developing each character with a
compelling reality.... a thought-provoking and psychological exploration
of love, war and human identity... [for] readers who enjoyed Ian McEwan's Atonement."
-Library Journal
"Shira Nayman, the author whose collection of short stories, Awake
in the Dark, first won her acclaim five years ago, captivates in
this haunting debut historical novel...The surroundings are familiar to
Nayman, a clinical psychologist who's worked in psychiatric hospitals, and her
expertise shows."
-The Daily Beast
For more information about Shira Nayman visit her website or Facebook page.
Shira Nayman is available to speak with your book club by phone or through Skype. Please contact Shira by email to submit your request.
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