Mary Lambeth Moore's Blog, page 2
December 10, 2011
We Have a Winner!
Congratulations to Robert Mendonsa of Bellevue, Washington, who won the drawing for a $125 shopping spree at the independent bookstore of his choice. Not surprisingly, Robert is choosing to spend his prize money at the legendary Elliott Bay Book Company in Seattle.
Thanks to ALL who entered this drawing by purchasing copies of Sleeping with Patty Hearst. The response was stupendous!
Btw, it's not too late to order before the holidays OR to put Sleeping with Patty Hearst on your Goodreads to-read list.
www.sleepingwithpattyhearst.com
Thanks to ALL who entered this drawing by purchasing copies of Sleeping with Patty Hearst. The response was stupendous!
Btw, it's not too late to order before the holidays OR to put Sleeping with Patty Hearst on your Goodreads to-read list.
www.sleepingwithpattyhearst.com
December 3, 2011
When Did You Know You Were a Writer? New interview with the Bookish Dame
Many thanks to Deborah Previte, "A Bookish Libraria" blogger, for earlier this week running an interview and a review of Sleeping with Patty Hearst.
Here's the beginning:
"When did you decide you wanted to be an author and when did you know you were one?
I wrote for a number of years—virtually every day—before I was comfortable calling myself a writer. Because I love books so much, the claim seemed audacious, like calling myself a princess or a movie star. But the urge to write came to me very early. When I was in the third grade, I remember finding a slim red volume in the library titled “Someday You Will Be a Writer.” It was like I had found a genie who knew my wish before I did ..."
READ MORE (click on link and scroll down to see complete interview and review)
http://bit.ly/uVyucZ
I'm still pleasantly flabbergasted to be compared to Carson McCullers. Thanks again to Ms. Previte, and what a great week!
Here's the beginning:
"When did you decide you wanted to be an author and when did you know you were one?
I wrote for a number of years—virtually every day—before I was comfortable calling myself a writer. Because I love books so much, the claim seemed audacious, like calling myself a princess or a movie star. But the urge to write came to me very early. When I was in the third grade, I remember finding a slim red volume in the library titled “Someday You Will Be a Writer.” It was like I had found a genie who knew my wish before I did ..."
READ MORE (click on link and scroll down to see complete interview and review)
http://bit.ly/uVyucZ
I'm still pleasantly flabbergasted to be compared to Carson McCullers. Thanks again to Ms. Previte, and what a great week!
November 26, 2011
Win a shopping spree at your favorite indie store
The giveaway continues ... a chance to win $125 to spend at your favorite independent bookstore. Plus 20% off and free media mail:
www.sleepingwithpattyhearst.com
In case you're wavering, here are a few reasons you might want to read SLEEPING WITH PATTY HEARST:
* It’s a literary novel that’s also a page-turner.
* You want to remember the 1970s or get a glimpse of the craziness then.
* You’re at least 17 years old.
* You have family members you’ve hated. And also love like nobody else.
* You know what it’s like to miss someone. A lot.
* Your love for reading transcends gender. The biggest fans of the book include both men and women, young and old.
* When you read, you notice what characters DON'T say.
* You’re open to characters who can’t easily be classified as good or bad—even when they make very bad decisions.
* It’s a perfect gift for your girlfriend/boyfriend, teacher, aunt, uncle, neighbor, book club or book worm friends.
* The book has received four or five stars from virtually all reviewers.
Check out reviews on Goodreads and also on Amazon.
http://amzn.to/rY7c84
I love to be connected with readers. Please consider connecting on Facebook http://on.fb.me/qhpgwf and/or Twitter @Writing_Life.
Offer is good through December 9, and the winner will be announced on Saturday, December 10.
Thanks to all of the readers I’ve heard from already—I really appreciate the reviews and comments!
www.sleepingwithpattyhearst.com
In case you're wavering, here are a few reasons you might want to read SLEEPING WITH PATTY HEARST:
* It’s a literary novel that’s also a page-turner.
* You want to remember the 1970s or get a glimpse of the craziness then.
* You’re at least 17 years old.
* You have family members you’ve hated. And also love like nobody else.
* You know what it’s like to miss someone. A lot.
* Your love for reading transcends gender. The biggest fans of the book include both men and women, young and old.
* When you read, you notice what characters DON'T say.
* You’re open to characters who can’t easily be classified as good or bad—even when they make very bad decisions.
* It’s a perfect gift for your girlfriend/boyfriend, teacher, aunt, uncle, neighbor, book club or book worm friends.
* The book has received four or five stars from virtually all reviewers.
Check out reviews on Goodreads and also on Amazon.
http://amzn.to/rY7c84
I love to be connected with readers. Please consider connecting on Facebook http://on.fb.me/qhpgwf and/or Twitter @Writing_Life.
Offer is good through December 9, and the winner will be announced on Saturday, December 10.
Thanks to all of the readers I’ve heard from already—I really appreciate the reviews and comments!
November 21, 2011
Win a Book-Shopping Spree!
It was almost exactly a year ago that I published Sleeping with Patty Hearst. It has been such a great year! To celebrate, we have a special offer for readers:
For every book purchased on the book's website (www.sleepingwithpattyhearst.com), readers will be entered automatically into a drawing to win $125 gift certificate to an independent bookstore of their choice.
Also, those who "like" the Sleeping with Patty Hearst Facebook page will get an extra entry in the drawing.
PLUS, the book is specially priced at a 20% discount, and media shipping is free.
This offer will go through December 10, and the winner will be announced that weekend.
Some of my Goodreads friends have already ordered books. Thank you so much!
For every book purchased on the book's website (www.sleepingwithpattyhearst.com), readers will be entered automatically into a drawing to win $125 gift certificate to an independent bookstore of their choice.
Also, those who "like" the Sleeping with Patty Hearst Facebook page will get an extra entry in the drawing.
PLUS, the book is specially priced at a 20% discount, and media shipping is free.
This offer will go through December 10, and the winner will be announced that weekend.
Some of my Goodreads friends have already ordered books. Thank you so much!
November 6, 2011
Lorrie Moore" "Fiction is like gossip."
A few comments from Lorrie Moore (no relation, unfortunately) in this poststar.com article, including the educational value of abandoned beach books:
"Author Lorrie Moore has found inspiration in classics like 'Jane Eyre,' but not everything on her reading list has been high-brow.
"I was always reading inappropriate novels when I was a teenager. I would read anything with an explicit sex scene," Moore told a crowd of students Thursday at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs. "They were the kinds of books you would find left behind in a summer cottage, and they were giving me information as a high school student I didn't have.
"The 2009 novel ['A Gate at the Stairs'] was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award and the Orange Prize for Fiction. Her short story collection 'Birds of America' was a New York Times best-seller, and she won the O. Henry Award in 1998 for the story 'People Like That Are the Only People Here,' which had been published in The New Yorker.
"Despite having a career many writers would envy, Moore is uncomfortable saying that she is successful. "I got lucky because I published two books before I was 30. Any sort of good luck in publishing is exactly that," she said. "A career as a writer just goes back and forth ...
Read more: http://bit.ly/slZgeV
"Author Lorrie Moore has found inspiration in classics like 'Jane Eyre,' but not everything on her reading list has been high-brow.
"I was always reading inappropriate novels when I was a teenager. I would read anything with an explicit sex scene," Moore told a crowd of students Thursday at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs. "They were the kinds of books you would find left behind in a summer cottage, and they were giving me information as a high school student I didn't have.
"The 2009 novel ['A Gate at the Stairs'] was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award and the Orange Prize for Fiction. Her short story collection 'Birds of America' was a New York Times best-seller, and she won the O. Henry Award in 1998 for the story 'People Like That Are the Only People Here,' which had been published in The New Yorker.
"Despite having a career many writers would envy, Moore is uncomfortable saying that she is successful. "I got lucky because I published two books before I was 30. Any sort of good luck in publishing is exactly that," she said. "A career as a writer just goes back and forth ...
Read more: http://bit.ly/slZgeV
October 26, 2011
Ashley Memory - Naked & Hungry on the Radio
I'm listening to Ashley Memory on WUNC's "The State of Things" ... wonderful interview! Includes a short reading and Ashley's commentary and how she came to write about a loan officer who retreats to the woods. I highly recommend - you can listen here:
http://wunc.org/tsot/archive/Naked_an...
http://wunc.org/tsot/archive/Naked_an...
October 18, 2011
The Quivering Pen - a fan note
True confession: I'm a fickle blog reader. Usually I'm a skimmer, and I've never been able to settle down. Sometimes after reading, I don't even remember the blog's name the next day.
"The Quivering Pen" has changed that. I found it only a few weeks ago, and now I look forward to it more than the NYT book review section. This evening I got on my computer with many good intentions: I would finally write a note to my niece, pay a bill, etc. Instead, I spent a very happy hour on The Quivering Pen, the creation of the talented David Abrams, who posts commentary and all kinds of interesting literary tidbits by himself and others.
http://bit.ly/o7wBXM
p.s. I was fortunate enough to have a piece on this blog a couple of weeks ago, but that's not why I'm writing this. That piece, though fun to write and an honor to have posted, is already buried under lots of other articles. Abrams does a great job of keeping the blog fresh.
"The Quivering Pen" has changed that. I found it only a few weeks ago, and now I look forward to it more than the NYT book review section. This evening I got on my computer with many good intentions: I would finally write a note to my niece, pay a bill, etc. Instead, I spent a very happy hour on The Quivering Pen, the creation of the talented David Abrams, who posts commentary and all kinds of interesting literary tidbits by himself and others.
http://bit.ly/o7wBXM
p.s. I was fortunate enough to have a piece on this blog a couple of weeks ago, but that's not why I'm writing this. That piece, though fun to write and an honor to have posted, is already buried under lots of other articles. Abrams does a great job of keeping the blog fresh.
October 17, 2011
Only at Barnhill's
Last Saturday, I spent three very pleasant hours at Barnhill's Books-Wine-Gifts in Winston-Salem. I hadn't been to Winston in years, and it's more charming than I remember, especially Burke Street, where Barnhill's is located. Several good friends I haven't seen in years came by, so the signing felt like a surprise party ... I wasn't sure who would walk in next. See a few photos from my cell phone on The Sleeping with Patty Hearst facebook page.
http://on.fb.me/qhpgwf
http://on.fb.me/qhpgwf
October 11, 2011
From a reader ...
I'm wowed by seeing this nice review from Darlene, one of the winners of the recent Sleeping with Patty Hearst giveaway:
From Darlene:
"I won this book through goodreads.com and boy was I wowed. I can't exactly pin point what it is I liked so much about this book but it has remained in my mind since I finished it.
Mary Lambeth Moore beautifully weaves together a story about half sisters, their dysfunctional, odd relationships with one another, with their mother and with the surrounding people in their lives.
It's a wonderful book about the evolution of one's self, of the relationships we have with others and the evolution of the general world around us.
Mary Lambeth Moore has created with great depth characters that are both endearing yet can make you shake your head with disgust due to their ignorance and with their lack of morals and values.
Sleeping with Patty Hearst was so full of heart and was a pleasure to read. I highly recommend this book."
Sleeping with Patty Hearst
From Darlene:
"I won this book through goodreads.com and boy was I wowed. I can't exactly pin point what it is I liked so much about this book but it has remained in my mind since I finished it.
Mary Lambeth Moore beautifully weaves together a story about half sisters, their dysfunctional, odd relationships with one another, with their mother and with the surrounding people in their lives.
It's a wonderful book about the evolution of one's self, of the relationships we have with others and the evolution of the general world around us.
Mary Lambeth Moore has created with great depth characters that are both endearing yet can make you shake your head with disgust due to their ignorance and with their lack of morals and values.
Sleeping with Patty Hearst was so full of heart and was a pleasure to read. I highly recommend this book."
Sleeping with Patty Hearst
October 7, 2011
Butterfly's Child: A Daring Novel that Works
This novel lives up to the high praise it received from the Washington Post: "Sometimes bold and gripping, often delicate and sensual, Butterfly’s Child is utterly unique and entirely enchanting."
I admire Angela Davis-Gardner for even attempting to take on this ambitious story. Using the opera, "Madam Butterfly," as a jumping off point, she creates the life of M. Butterfly's son, Benji -- a boy adopted by his American father (Frank), who doesn't want to claim him, and his stepmother (Kate), who is pained by his very existence. Although this is mostly Benji's story, we also get the perspective of Frank, Kate and other major characters, which adds to the richness of the book.
Davis-Gardner's rendering is fully imagined, and also anchored by her knowledge of Japan and Japanese culture. Her writing is careful, quietly beautiful and moving.
I admire Angela Davis-Gardner for even attempting to take on this ambitious story. Using the opera, "Madam Butterfly," as a jumping off point, she creates the life of M. Butterfly's son, Benji -- a boy adopted by his American father (Frank), who doesn't want to claim him, and his stepmother (Kate), who is pained by his very existence. Although this is mostly Benji's story, we also get the perspective of Frank, Kate and other major characters, which adds to the richness of the book.
Davis-Gardner's rendering is fully imagined, and also anchored by her knowledge of Japan and Japanese culture. Her writing is careful, quietly beautiful and moving.
