Book Review and Giveaway: The Dangerous Joy of Dr. Sex
October 8, 2008 by Tracy
Filed under Book Contests, Book Reviews
WHAT THIS BOOK IS ABOUT
Nonfiction is the new black comedy in this hilarious collection of award-winning literary essays written by the infamous Pagan Kennedy. In the title piece, Alex Comfort, author of The Joy of Sex, reinvents himself as a sex guru in California and hatches a plan to destroy monogamy forever. In the stories that follow, a retired chemist finds a way to turn a wasteland into paradise, an aspiring tyrant tries to become the emperor of America, and an artist rigs himself up to a “brain machine” made from parts he bought at Radio Shack. All of the essays—most of which have appeared in The New York Times Magazine and The Boston Globe Magazine—document the stories of visionaries bent on remaking the world, for better or for worse.
CLICK ON THE BOOK COVER TO READ MY REVIEW. IF THIS SOUNDS LIKE A BOOK YOU WOULD LIKE, I HAVE AN EXTRA COPY FROM THE SANTA FE WRITER’S PROJECT TO SHARE! ALL YOU NEED TO DO TO ENTER IS LEAVE ME A COMMENT AND I WILL DRAW A WINNER ON OCTOBER 14TH. US AND CANADA ONLY PLEASE.
Matrimony by Joshua Henkin Book Review and Giveaway
September 23, 2008 by Tracy
Filed under Book Reviews
WHAT THIS BOOK IS ABOUT
From the moment he was born, Julian Wainwright has lived a life of Waspy privilege. The son of a Yale-educated investment banker, he grew up in a huge apartment on Sutton Place, high above the East River, and attended a tony Manhattan private school. Yet, more than anything, he wants to get out–out from under his parents’ influence, off to Graymont College, in western Massachusetts, where he hopes to become a writer.
When he arrives, in the fall of 1986, Julian meets Carter Heinz, a scholarship student from California with whom he develops a strong but ambivalent friendship. Carter’s mother, desperate to save money for his college education, used to buy him reversible clothing, figuring she was getting two items for the price of one. Now, spending time with Julian, Carter seethes with resentment. He swears he will grow up to be wealthy–wealthier, even, than Julian himself.
Then, one day, flipping through the college facebook, Julian and Carter see a photo of Mia Mendelsohn. Mia from Montreal, they call her. Beautiful, Jewish, the daughter of a physics professor at McGill, Mia is–Julian and Carter agree–dreamy, urbane, stylish, refined.
But Julian gets to Mia first, meeting her by chance in the college laundry room. Soon they begin a love affair that–spurred on by family tragedy–will carry them to graduation and beyond, taking them through several college towns, over the next ten years. Then Carter reappears, working for an Internet company in California, and he throws everyone’s life into turmoil: Julian’s, Mia’s, his own.
Starting at the height of the Reagan era andending in the new millennium, Matrimony is about love and friendship, about money and ambition, desire and tensions of faith. It asks what happens to a marriage when it is confronted by betrayal and the specter of mortality. What happens when people marry younger than they’d expected? Can love endure the passing of time?
THEMES IN THIS BOOK
CLICK ON THE BOOK COVER OF MATRIMONY TO READ MY REVIEW! JOSHUA HAS GENEROUSLY OFFERED TO SEND ONE COPY OF HIS BOOK THAT IS NOW OUT IN PAPERBACK. YOU CAN GO TO MY CONTEST PAGE TO ENTER. THANK YOU SO MUCH JOSH FOR ALL OF YOUR AMAZING SUPPORT TO BOOK BLOGGERS! Check out the author’s website here. Discussion questions can be found here or downloaded here: matrimony_reading_group_guide. You can also download this essay (henkin-book-group-essay) that Joshua Henkin wrote that originally appeared here. Joshua talks about his book here.
The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson Book Giveaway
August 15, 2008 by Tracy
Filed under Book Contests
I know I seem a bit giveaway crazy lately but I had to share my extra ARC of The Gargoyle because I loved it so much and I know you will too! You can read my review of The Gargoyle here Just leave me a comment to enter. Sorry U.S. and Canada only. I will draw a winner in two weeks on August 26th. Make sure you check out my other giveaways. Also you can watch this fantastic book trailer below with the author Andrew Davidson telling you a story from the book.
WIN A COPY OF DRIVING SIDEWAYS BY JESS RILEY!
August 6, 2008 by Tracy
Filed under Book Reviews
WHAT THIS BOOK IS ABOUT
Leigh Fielding wants a life. Seriously. Having spent the past five years on dialysis, she has one simple wish: to make it to her thirtieth birthday. Now, thanks to the generosity of the late Larry Resnick and his transplanted kidney, it looks like her wish may come true.
With her newfound vitality (and Larry’s kidney) in tow, Leigh hits the road for an excursion that will carry her from Wisconsin to California, with a few stops in between: Mount Rushmore, the Badlands, the Rockies, Las Vegas–and a memorable visit to thank Larry’s family for the second chance.
Yet Leigh’s itinerary takes a sudden detour when she picks up a seventeen-year-old hitchhiker, Denise, a runaway with a bunch of stories and a couple of secrets. Add a long-lost mother, a loaded gun, an RV full of swingers, and Hall and Oates’s Greatest Hits to the mix, and Driving Sideways becomes a hilarious and original journey of friendship, hope, and discovery.
THEMES IN THIS BOOK
CLICK ON THE BOOK COVER OF DRIVING SIDEWAYS TO READ MY REVIEW AND SEE WHAT GRADE I GAVE IT! TO WIN AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY FROM JESS RILEY JUST LEAVE US A COMMENT ABOUT WHY YOU WOULD LIKE TO READ DRIVING SIDEWAYS. FOR A SECOND ENTRY YOU CAN BLOG ABOUT THIS CONTEST ANYWHERE YOU WANT JUST LINK IT BACK HERE IN A SEPARATE COMMENT. I WILL ANNOUNCE THE WINNER ON AUGUST 22nd. THANK YOU SO MUCH JESS FOR YOUR GENEROSITY!
Win A Copy of Tan Lines by J.J. Salem
August 1, 2008 by Tracy
Filed under Book Contests
The publisher of Tan Lines, Macmillan Publishing, has graciously agreed to send a brand new copy of Tan Lines to two winners! All you have to do to enter is leave a comment telling us why you would like to read Tan Lines. Random. Org will draw two winners on Friday August 22nd. Thanks for entering and Good Luck!! You can read my review here.
Guest Blogger Jill Rosenblatt is Hosting a Giveaway of Her Book!!
July 14, 2008 by Tracy
Filed under Book Contests
We have been lucky enough to have Jill Amy Rosenblatt the author of Project Jennifer blog a guest post for us today. She has also generously offered to give away two autographed copies of her wonderful book to two lucky Bookroom Reviews readers. All you have to do to enter is leave a comment. Even better tell us what name you would have liked your parents to name you! We will draw two winners on August 1st. Good luck and thanks so much Jill!
What’s in a name? I asked myself that question ever since my mother said she wanted to name me Jennifer and my father said no. I wound up as Jill and wondered, if I were Jennifer, would my life be different, would I be different? I think all writers use their work to explore an issue or a question; the time came for me to address the Jennifer question and solve the Jennifer mystique.
Project Jennifer is a year in the life of intrepid Long Island Administrative Assistant Joan Benjamin. She’s lost her fiancé, her job, and her apartment, all because of women named Jennifer. Is the universe sending a karmic message: different name, different life? Can you change your life even if you can’t change your name? Does the name really matter?
What is a “Jennifer” exactly? For me, Jennifer is a metaphor for the woman who has it all: every hair in place, perfect makeup, color coordinated clothes, matching shoes. When she’s in the room, the rest of us are invisible; every man’s compass points to Jennifer. Jennifer is a Nietzsche woman, with will or will-to-power to take all, be all and have it all. She leaves us wondering, why don’t we have it, and how do we get it?
You may say it’s all nonsense, but what about Darwin? What about survival of the fittest? Are some of us born to be Jennifers and the rest of us doomed to hear our mothers pearls of wisdom: “worry about the inside not the outside” or “if he doesn’t see all the wonderful things in you that I see, that’s his misfortune” (everyone who’s heard that one raise their hand.) Or is there hope we can engineer ourselves to a new Jennifer persona, to become women who never get food stuck in their teeth, spill coffee in their lap, or better yet, their date’s lap. Their mascara never runs, their pantyhose never sags. I don’t know about you, but I’m off pantyhose. I can’t exude grace and style doing a Groucho Marx crouch as my hose wrinkles around my knees like a Shar Pei.
So how do we leap into the Jennifer universe? Personally, I was hoping for a super vitamin pack or a twenty-minute program you only need to do three times a week, something I could master while on the treadmill or watching television (I’m a multi-tasker). There is no end to the books, workbooks, and self-help study guides to help women find out how to learn to love, love ourselves, love others, and stop loving losers. We can be thinner, confident, successful, über achievers, and all for three easy payments of $29.95. If only it were that simple. It goes without saying, as we become a happier, healthier, self-actualized and successful us, we will, of course, find the perfect man. Another search. Why can’t he be included with the workbook?
As Joan discovers, becoming her dream self comes with a dilemma. She may have style, grace, charm, wit, a snappy comeback, and killer lingerie, but she spends all of her time being only an idea of what she thinks she should be. Why do we struggle to become who we think we should be instead of being who we are?
Throughout Project Jennifer, Joan returns to her original question, what’s in a name? Is the answer to Project Jennifer our search for the “Jennifer” in us, or the continuous quest to figure out what might have been? Maybe it’s the desire to become more than who we are, on our own terms, for ourselves, and learning from the mistakes we make along the way. I hope you enjoy going along for the ride with Joan!
Happy Reading!!
To read my review of Project Jennifer and to visit Jill’s website click here
Sleeping With Ward Cleaver by Jenny Gardiner-Book Giveaway!
July 11, 2008 by Tracy
Filed under Book Reviews
DESCRIPTION OF THIS BOOK
Wham, bam, no-thank-you, ma’am. That about sums up the sex life of Claire Doolittle. Not-so-happily married to Jack-once the man of her dreams but now a modern-day version of the bossy, dull Ward Cleaver of ’50s sitcom fame-Claire is at the end of her rope. Gone are the glorious days of flings in elevators and broom closets. Jack? All he needs is a cardigan and a billowing pipe to become the domineering father figure Claire never wanted. And looking at her body in the mirror, Claire would cast herself as Lumpy. They’d once had a world of color, of wanton frivolity. Now, life’s black and white: a sitcom in reruns. A not-very-funny sitcom. Cue an old boyfriend-the “one that got away”-throw in a predatory hottie who’s set her sights on our leading man, and watch Claire’s world spiral out of control.
In the old TV show, the Beaver always got a happy ending. Stay tuned
ELEMENTS IN THIS BOOK
CLICK ON THE BOOK COVER OF SLEEPING WITH WARD CLEAVER TO READ MY REVIEW AND SEE WHAT GRADE I GAVE IT! I JUST HAPPEN TO HAVE AN EXTRA COPY OF THIS WONDERFULLY FUNNY BOOK AND I WANT TO GIVE ONE AWAY TO YOU! ALL YOU NEED TO DO FOR ONE ENTRY IS LEAVE ME A COMMENT. FOR A SECOND ENTRY YOU CAN BLOG ABOUT THIS GIVEAWAY AND MAKE SURE YOU LET ME KNOW. I WILL DRAW A WINNER ON AUGUST 1ST. GOOD LUCK!
