The Piano Teacher by Janice Y. Lee

The Piano Teacher is complicated, eloquent, haunting and thought provoking.   Not one of the characters is particularly sympathetic, never mind likable.  The story jumps between decades with wild abandon.  The plot is violent and explores the highly disturbing, damaging nature of war and its aftermath.  It is the story of love and ultimate betrayal.

If that sounds negative, than consider my other observations. Janice Lee's portrayal of Hong Kong are so vivid you can almost smell and hear the market place. The description of life in Colonies is pitch perfect; the gossip, the intrigue and the boredom. The language is eloquent.  The plot is carefully constructed. The character development is extraordinary.

The story presents two snapshots of life in Hong Kong.  The snapshots are ten years apart. Life before the war life is circumscribed by social status and ritual.  The Europeans, especially the English have created their own alternative universe right on the top of Victoria Peak.

Once the war is over the survivors (of both the war and the occupation) are deeply scarred.  They emerge forever changed by the circumstances of incarceration. starvation and torture.  And yet, apparently nothing much has changed.  Life has more or less picked up exactly where it left off.  The colony is back in business and the rigid social structures and rituals have survived. 

Claire Pendleton, the piano teacher, provides a stark contrast between the cynicism of the old and the naivety of the new.  In the end, she effectively provides a focus and a rather harrowing catharsis.

This book is a real hybrid; part historical fiction, part romance and part mystery.  I suspect you will either love or hate it.  I, personally, loved it.

In the sweeping tradition of The English Patient, a gripping tale of love and betrayal set in war-torn Hong Kong

In 1942, Will Truesdale, an Englishman newly arrived in Hong Kong, falls headlong into a passionate relationship with Trudy Liang, a beautiful Eurasian socialite. But their love affair is soon threatened by the invasion of the Japanese as World War II overwhelms their part of the world. Will is sent to an internment camp, where he and other foreigners struggle daily for survival. Meanwhile, Trudy remains outside, forced to form dangerous alliances with the Japanese in particular, the malevolent head of the gendarmerie, whose desperate attempts to locate a priceless collection of Chinese art lead to a chain of terrible betrayals.

Ten years later, Claire Pendleton comes to Hong Kong and is hired by the wealthy Chen family as their daughter's piano teacher. A provincial English newlywed, Claire is seduced by the heady social life of the expatriate community. At one of its elegant cocktail parties, she meets Will, to whom she is instantly attracted¿but as their affair intensifies, Claire discovers that Will's enigmatic persona hides a devastating past. As she begins to understand the true nature of the world she has entered, and long-buried secrets start to emerge, Claire learns that sometimes the price of survival is love.

Read an excerpt here

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Cash from eBooks and Best $elling Authors

The conventional wisdom in the eBook publishing world is that the way to make money in publishing is to write pithy, useful  non-fiction title. 

Everyday I get at least one email or Google alert telling me that I can ensure my financial future, or make big money, or even thousands of dollars by writing and promoting an eBook.  Preferably theirs.

At least once a week I get an email from someone telling me about their great eBook idea and how it will make thousands of dollars, just as soon as they can get it written. . .

More often than I would like, when I search for a specific piece of information I stumble on to a site that has clearly been put up by the author in an effort to make his fortune.  Occasionally I even bite and buy the book.  I can only think of once case where I was not disappointed.

So it is with great interest that I study the annual Forbes list of the top selling authors and an estimate of their earnings.  Here they are for this last year (June 07-June 08) :

1. J.K. Rowling, $300 million 
2. James Patterson, $50 million
3. Stephen King, $45 million
4. Tom Clancy, $35 million
5. Danielle Steel, $30 million
6. John Grisham, $25 million
7. Dean Koontz, $25 million
8. Ken Follett, $20 million
9. Janet Evanovich, $17 million
10. Nicholas Sparks, $16 million

Not a non-fiction author is sight!  We have one YA (young adult) author, two horror and three romance writers and four suspense novelists.

Also missing is anything close to an author who write literary fiction.

What they have in common is that they are all authors with multiple titles, often in a series or two.  And with the exception of Rowling have at least their new titles in multiple book formats including eBook and audio book.

But most importantly (IMHO) is that they all provide the reader (you and I) with an escape from ordinary, daily life.  I know I have contributed to several of these authors earnings.  How about you?

If nothing else, this list is fascinating for what it says about popular culture and the reading public.

del.icio.us Tags: ebooks,eBook,fiction,ebooks about fiction,ebooks about romance,ebooks about horror,thrillers. best selling authors

All We Ever Wanted Was Everything eBook Edition

If you are interested in a study on how secrets warp relationships and families, this is your book. 

If you want to feel the pain of privilege, by all means read this book.

If you enjoy reading about addiction, denial and keeping up with appearance, then this book was written just for you.

If you want sharp social commentary with a little humor, find another author.

All we Ever Wanted Was Everything is an exercise in wretched excess.  From the multi-million dollar high tech executive's wife to the humorless feminist daughter, the characters are excessive, shallow and unsympathetic. 

I really wanted to like this book. From the blurb it sounded like great fun.  Unfortunately, it was pretty much torture to read.  The writer is about as humorless as the feminist daughter. 

Tell me doesn't sound like a great summer beach read:

 When Paul Miller’s pharmaceutical company goes public, making his family IPO millionaires, his wife, Janice, is sure this is the windfall she’s been waiting years for — until she learns, via messengered letter, that her husband is divorcing her (for her tennis partner!) and cutting her out of the new fortune. Meanwhile, four hundred miles south in Los Angeles, the Millers’ older daughter, Margaret, has been dumped by her newly famous actor boyfriend and left in the lurch by an investor who promised to revive her fledgling post-feminist magazine, Snatch. Sliding toward bankruptcy and dogged by creditors, she flees for home where her younger sister Lizzie, 14, is struggling with problems of her own. Formerly chubby, Lizzie has been enjoying her newfound popularity until some bathroom graffiti alerts her to the fact that she’s become the school slut.

The three Miller women retreat behind the walls of their Georgian colonial to wage battle with divorce lawyers, debt collectors, drug-dealing pool boys, mean girls, country club ladies, evangelical neighbors, their own demons, and each other, and in the process they become achingly sympathetic characters we can’t help but root for, even as the world they live in epitomizes everything wrong with the American Dream. Exhilarating, addictive, and superbly accomplished, All We Ever Wanted Was Everything crackles with energy and intelligence and marks the debut of a knowing and very funny novelist, wise beyond her years.

You'd think you would have to love a feminist who actually names here 'zine Snatch.

You'd think that drug dealing pool boys, country club ladies and evangelical neighbors would add (at the very least) great color and a few laughs.

You'd think that a novel about women pulling together would end up being a "feel good" reading adventure.

In all cases you would be wrong.

Obviously, I hated this book!

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Kyra eBook edition

Have you ever had the experience of reading a book that you aren't even sure you like, but somehow can't but it down?

 Kyra by Carol Gillian was like that for me.  Part of my brain kept thinking, "why am I reading this, it is boring and painful".  But I still couldn't put it down.  I actually read the whole thing in one long lazy Saturday afternoon.

On the face of it, there isn't a reason that I should have even picked the book up, much less been unable to put it down.  I know almost nothing about architecture or urban planning and possibly less about opera.  I am not in the habit of analyzing cultures, music or art.  Mainly, I am not big on suffering for love.  Yet with all of those strikes against it, Kyra was a strangely compelling book.

Gilmore is a graceful and fluent writer.  She has a tremendous grasp of her subject matter -- architecture, opera and therapy.  Somehow (against all odds), she seamlessly weaves these complex themes into a kind of love story.  Interestingly enough, a love story with a "happily ever after" end.

The characters, Kyra and Andreas, are complex and have extremely complicated lives.  They are both sophisticated, brilliant and creative.  Their careers serve as the ballast for the emotional life.  As they work together and fall in love, everything they believe begins to morph into something different. 

This story of how they fall in love is strangely academic and cerebral.  It shouldn't work, but somehow it does.

Kyra is more than a love story but less than a romance.  Difficult to explain.  This is a book you need to experience.

I suspect that urban planners and opera fans would find this book a treasure trove of ideas and sensations.  Psychologist and people familiar with psychotherapy would find it challenging.  And yet it also works for the casual reader.  Certainly, it is not everyone's cup of tea.

This is a great book club selection.  The story and themes are great discussion material.  And yet, you don't need to belong to a book club to read and enjoy this book.

Here is the publishers synopsis:

An unforgettable novel about love–and the first work of fiction by the author of the groundbreaking nonfiction bestseller In a Different Voice

Kyra is an architect, involved in a project to design a new city. Andreas, a theater director, is staging an innovative production of the opera Tosca. Both have come through political upheaval and personal loss. Neither wants to fall in love. Yet when she asks him, “What is the opposite of losing?” and he says, “Finding,” it galvanizes a powerful attraction, and they risk opening themselves to love once again.

When their love affair leads to a shocking betrayal, Kyra’s fierce determination to see under the surface, to know what was true and real, brings her to Greta, a remarkable therapist. As the therapy itself repeats the themes of love and loss, Kyra challenges its structure, and the struggle that ensues between the two women opens the way to a larger understanding.

Passionate and revolutionary, Kyra is an exquisitely written love story, imbued with gentle humor. This is an extraordinary work of fiction by one of the most brilliant writers of our time.

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Deep Dish (eBook edition)

 

Deep Dish by Mary Kay Andrews is my favorite kind of chick lit.  You take a spunky woman who's life has taken a turn for the worse and pair her with an impossibly charming and handsome guy, add witty dialogue and watch the sparks fly.

It doesn't hurt that this particular novel is about food and even features a very cute puppy.  And if that isn't enough, there is the ex who is still hanging around and the Mom who can't quit calling.

There is absolutely no good reason to read a book like this except for pure escape and enjoyment.  It doesn't tax your brain or require any work to follow the plot.  And yet, the dialog and the juxtaposition of people and situations will make you laugh.

For some reason I am a sucker for Southern authors -- Anne Rivers Siddons, Dorothea Benton Frank or Rebecca Wells.  I am not from the South and if fact have only visited there a couple of times. I am a Westerner and it would be very hard to have a more different life experience.  And yet I always love these authors.

Perhaps the secret is in the sheer humanity of heroine.  We all have bad hair days, pesky relatives, annoying co-workers and major set back and there is something cathartic in seeing them conquered with guts, humor and absurdity.

You can always count on Mary Kay Andrews to write an enjoyable novel. She has a great ear for dialog, a wonderful sense of the absurd and a keen understanding of her audience. 

This is a feel good novel, this is a lot of fun.  The publisher synopsis pretty much tells the story:

Chef extraordinaire Gina Foxton doesn't expect anything to be handed to her on a platter. After years of hard work, the former runner-up Miss Teen Vidalia Onion is now the host of her own local Georgia public television show called Fresh Start, and she's dating the show's producer.

But when her show gets canceled—and she catches her boyfriend in flagrante delicto with the boss's wife—Gina realizes that she's meant for bigger and better things. Namely, a gig on national television.

The Cooking Channel is looking for its next big star, and Gina is certain that she fits the bill. Trouble is, the execs also have their eyes on Mr. "Kill It and Grill It" Tate Moody, the star of a hunting, fishing, and cooking show named Vittles. Tate is the ultimate man's man, with a dog named Moonpie and a penchant for flannel shirts. He's also a tasty side of beef with a swooning female fan base. All Gina has on her side are a free-spirited, college-dropout sister and a mother who calls every single day.

Little does Gina know, though, that she and Tate are soon to embark on the cook-off of their lives, spiced up by a little ingredient called love.

del.icio.us Tags: ebook,e-book,Deep Dish,Mary Kay Andrews,eBooks about Fiction,eBooks About Romance

Weekend Reads - 11/30/2007

Henri and I are both avoiding Christmas shipping.  We figure the best way to do that is to find a good book, pop some corn and light the fire.  Here is what we picked as our escape of choice.  Two prolific authors so we can always go back for more.

Read with us -- use Coupon Code FAV207 at checkout to receive the discounts.

 

Robust Romance Click Here for a Discount on any of Janet Evanovich's Titles

Wife for Hire - by Evanovich, Janet Hank Mallone knows he's in trouble when Maggie Toone agrees to pretend to be his wife in order to improve his rogue's reputation. Will his harebrained scheme to get a bank loan for his business backfire once Maggie arrives in his small Vermont town and lets the gossips take a look? Maggie never expected her employer to be drop-dead handsome, but she's too intrigued by his offer to say no . . . and too eager to escape a life that made her feel trapped. The deal is strictly business, both agree, until Hank turns out to be every fantasy she ever had eBook Price: $7.19 More Info

Fantastic Fantasy Click Here for a Discount on any of Jim Butcher's Titles

Cursor's Fury - eBook edition by Butcher, Jim The power-hungry High Lord of Kalare has launched a rebellion against the aging First Lord, Gaius Sextus, who with the loyal forces of Alera must fight beside the unlikeliest of allies - the equally contentious High Lord of Aquitaine. Meanwhile, young Tavi of Calderon joins a newly formed legion under an assumed name even as the ruthless Kalare unites with the Canim, bestial enemies of the realm whose vast numbers spell certain doom for Alera. When treachery from within destroys the army's command structure, Tavi finds himself leading an inexperienced, poorly equipped legion - the only force standing between the Canim horde and the war-torn realm. eBookPrice: $7.19 More Info Have a great weekend!

Romance eBooks

Before there were eBooks, I used to joke that my criteria for what I would read was whether or not it was printed. The dictionary, cereal boxes, newspapers or any old book I found lying around.— didn’t matter. But my ultimate favorite and long time guilty pleasure is Romance.

It started innocently enough, as these things do. I found a copy of Little Women. I stayed up all night (under the covers with a flashlight) to finish it. Before long I found Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights.

But the real infatuation began when I found some Reader’s Digest Condensed book volumes and each of them had a Victoria Holt novel. They were riveting to a junior high student!

I read them over and over. Finally one of our neighbors took pity on me and gave me Rebecca. A couple of weeks later she gave me a big box of dirty paperbacks. That was a treasure trove! I found Mary Stewart, Anya Seton, Jean Plaidy and Georgette Heyer. By the time I was in high school I had “graduated” to books I wanted to hide from Mom (like Jacqueline Suzanne). And I read a whole lot of christian fiction for her to see.

Over the years I have indulged myself in suspensful and historical romances including Regency and Western stories. I have consumed chick lit, especially the British kind, since even before there was chick lit. And have recently started reading “hen lit” --- chick lit for us aging boomers.

I have taken alot of ribbing from my family and friends over the years about my Plebian taste in reading material. I won't apologize for what I like! And I point out to them that they watch trashy TV to escape. I read.

This week I am armed with numbers since I came across these statistics about last year's book sales numbers. I will point out the them that Romance:

• outsold every market category with the exception of religion/inspirational
• represents 26.4% of all books sold
• generated $1.37 Billion in sales Compare that to sci-fi/fantasy ($495 million), literary fiction ($448 million), and mysteries ($422 million)?

In case you're wondering about my weekend plans; here they are:

• Browse the eBooks About Romance Store to find the perfect book
• Buy it and get it downloaded on my eReader
• Settle down in my favorite armchair with a little food (preferably chocolate) and a box of tissues (the good ones make you cry at the end)
• Ignore the TV and the rest of the family
• Have a wonderful mini-vacation in a far away place where everything works out perfectly!